Report: Houthis considering imposing fees on ships in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait
Reuters reported that the Houthis in Yemen are considering imposing fees on merchant ships passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. This follows their recent announcement of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia.
The Reuters news agency reported today (Wednesday) that the Houthis in Yemen are considering imposing fees on merchant ships passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, about a week after they announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia. According to regional sources, the move is expected to apply to most vessels passing through the strait, but at this stage, no date has been set for its implementation.
This morning, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran rejected Oman's proposal for joint regional management of the Strait of Hormuz, claiming it has "no chance of success." He added that the USA and Saudi Arabia are trying to pressure Oman to promote their "unrealistic plans" regarding the Strait of Hormuz.
Politico reported that the UK and France are not ready at this stage to join the Donald Trump administration's initiative to establish an international maritime task force in the Strait of Hormuz. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth raised the idea in a conversation with his British counterpart Wes Streeting, which focused on recruiting allies to strengthen maritime security. According to European sources, one of the reasons for the hesitation is a sense of frustration with the Donald Trump administration, which did not update its allies in advance before launching strikes in Iran, and therefore they are not rushing to join another operation.
Meanwhile, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that the Revolutionary Guards had launched ballistic missiles at an American base in Jordan, and the Revolutionary Guards also confirmed that their forces had attacked 3 oil tankers that were sailing on a prohibited route in Hormuz. It was later reported that alongside the Saudi army, targets of pro-Iranian militias in eastern Iraq were attacked, "in response to more than 30 drone attacks carried out in the last 72 hours against American forces and Saudi energy infrastructure."
Last night, it was revealed on Channel 13 News that in their meeting in Washington, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented US President Donald Trump with new intelligence on developments at the "Mountain of Witchcraft" (Har HaMekush). Furthermore, senior officials in Israel said that in Jerusalem they "identify a very significant rehabilitation process of Iran, with the assistance of foreign countries." An American official said that "the issue is also known based on internal US information."
Before the meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump addressed the Iranian issue in an interview with Fox News and emphasized that "we have a blockade there. We control the blockade." He added: "They can throw a few mines but we still control it there. The units that pass through the strait are ships that we want to pass. We opened the blockade and then brought it back because they broke the deal. They are not allowed to break deals anymore."
"The 'Mountain of Witchcraft' is not a big problem," added Donald Trump, and said that "I would be happy to avoid attacking power plants and bridges, Iran cannot break any more agreements." According to him, "I can take out most of their bridges in less than an hour. I can shut down all their power plants in one day - but I am thinking about 90 million citizens and that is a problem. They know that I will do it if they don't sign."
