The Houthi rebel group is planning to collect fees from ships passing through the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a minister in Yemen’s internationally recognised government said on Wednesday. He claimed the Houthis were drawing up the plan on Iran’s advice.
In the view of Yemen’s information minister, Moammar al-Eryani, this would be an extremely dangerous provocation. If the plan is put into effect, he said, one of the world’s strategically important waterways would become a source of funding for a terrorist group.
No immediate comment was available from the Houthis on al-Eryani’s claim.
Iran, which supports the Houthis, has also been trying to impose fees in the Strait of Hormuz since the war began. Arising from that dispute, the United States broke the ceasefire and struck various installations in Iran. With the deadlock at Hormuz prolonged, Saudi Arabia meanwhile moved its oil export operations to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. The Houthis then announced a blockade of Saudi ports.
On Tuesday the Houthis fired a missile at a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea. Riyadh did not respond immediately. On Wednesday, however, Saudi Arabia carried out a joint attack with the United States on the bases of an Iran-backed group in Iraq.
Washington and Riyadh said the operation was a response to attacks on US forces and on Saudi oil installations.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report