Ships are reacting to the Houthis’ declaration of a blockade of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Lloyd’s List reported on July 21 on X that a Cosco Shipping vehicle carrier heading toward the BAM turned around in the Gulf of Aden to avoid it. “A Cosco Shipping vehicle carrier has become the first vessel tracked making a U-turn in response to the Houthi blockade on Saudi Arabia, signalling that even China-linked ships may not be exempt from the Iran-backed Houthis,” it said.
The ship-tracking service marinetraffic.com reported that five tankers originating from Saudi Red Sea ports also changed course to avoid running afoul of the Houthi blockade. “Five tankers heading toward Bab al-Mandeb reversed course as blockade threats picked up in the Red Sea,” it said on X. “Four of the five were carrying Saudi-origin cargo (crude, gasoil, naphtha).”
President Trump was dismissive of the Houthi blockade threat to the Red Sea. “I want to see what happens,” he told reporters at the White House on July 21. “So far, it hasn’t happened. Might happen, but we take care of things. If something like that happens, we take care of it. You know, we’ve done that with the Houthis before, and we haven’t heard from them in a while since we did what we did originally. That was about 45 days of very powerful action we took against the Houthis, and we’ve had no problem with the Houthis. They’ve had no problem with us for a long period of time, including during this conflict. I think that if there is something like that, we’ll just have to take care of it.”
