Saudi Arabia urgently lobbies the United States to abandon the Strait of Hormuz blockade, while Iran threatens with the Strait of Mandeb.

Mars Finance news, on April 14, according to a report by the WSJ, Arab officials said that Saudi Arabia is pressuring the United States, asking it to lift its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and return to the negotiating table. Saudi Arabia’s core concern is that Iran may retaliate by blocking the Mandeb Strait through the Houthis, and that this vital Red Sea chokepoint is precisely the only lifeline Saudi Arabia relies on to maintain its oil exports after the Strait of Hormuz is blockaded.

Saudi Arabia previously shifted most of its crude oil exports from the Ras Tanura facilities in the Persian Gulf to Yanbu port along the Red Sea coast. Currently, its daily export volume is about 7 million barrels, basically back to pre-war levels. However, once the Mandeb Strait is also blockaded, these supplies will face a direct threat.

On April 5, Iran’s top leader’s foreign policy adviser, Velayati, publicly stated that Iran views the Mandeb Strait “the same way it views the Strait of Hormuz,” warning that global energy and trade flows “can be cut off with a single signal.” Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency also clearly said that a U.S. blockade could lead Iran to close the Red Sea passage.

At the same time, the Houthis—an armed group controlling large stretches of coastline near the Mandeb Strait—are a readily available tool for Iran to carry out this threat. Barren, an expert on the Yemen issue at the Washington think tank “New America,” said: “If Iran really wants to blockade the Mandeb Strait, the Houthis are obviously partners, and they already have the capability to prove it.” Arab officials warned that if Iran further increases pressure, the Houthis may become even more aggressive in involving themselves in the conflict, and may even begin charging fees to transiting vessels. According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, before the war in Gaza, 9.3 million barrels of crude oil passed through the Mandeb Strait per day; after the Houthis’ involvement, that figure has dropped by half.