Image for representation purposes only Yemen’s Houthi movement is trying to replicate Iran’s strategy in the Strait of Hormuz by disrupting shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. “The Houthis want to copy the Iranian model and this will shut down two main straits, the gateways into the Gulf and Red Sea,” Foreign Minister-designate Afrah Al-Zouba told a small group of journalists at the Yemeni embassy in Riyadh. Al-Zouba said the Houthis had been encouraged by what she described as an insufficient international response to their actions. Her comments come as tensions between the Iran-backed Houthis, Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s internationally recognised government continue to rise, increasing concerns over security in the Red Sea, a key route for global trade. The Houthis have declared a maritime blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea and launched missiles and drones at the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has responded with airstrikes on what it said were Houthi military facilities and said it would protect commercial shipping, accusing the Houthis of serving foreign agendas. The escalation has also raised fears of renewed conflict in Yemen, where war broke out after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. Saudi Arabia later led an Arab coalition military campaign against the group. Although a truce was reached in 2022, recent cross-border attacks have increased tensions. Saudi officials, Western diplomats and Yemeni officials now believe a return to full-scale war is more likely than at any time since the ceasefire began. Al-Zouba said Yemen’s internationally recognised government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, was prepared for further escalation. She said exchanges of fire were taking place along front lines stretching from the Red Sea coast to the Saudi border, but neither side had launched a major offensive. “We think that this conflict now needs to come to an end, either via peaceful means, or the other way,”