Another oil artery under threat? The Houthis are testing Riyadh

Radio warnings in the Red Sea may still be bluster, but Yanbu and the East-West pipeline now sit inside a dangerous new standoff The Ansar Allah movement of Yemen (the Houthis) has announced what it calls a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia.The group’s military spokesman, Yahya Saree, framed the move as retaliation for what he described as 12 years of Saudi-led blockade by sea and air against Yemen. The wording itself is worth pausing on, because it is unusually vague for a movement that is normally precise in its threats. The Houthis do not trade with the Saudis in any meaningful volume, so an “embargo” in the classical economic sense makes little sense. What it more likely means is a readiness to strike vessels entering or leaving Saudi ports, something the group has both the geography and the missile reach to attempt along the western coast of the Arabian Peninsula.So far the escalation has stayed at the level of radio warnings. Houthi units have reportedly been broadcasting messages on open channels to ships heading toward Saudi ports, ordering captains to turn back immediately and threatening to strike any “merchant” vessel that ignores the warning. As of this writing, n...