Houthi rebels in Yemen on monday DESIGNATED they were imposing a naval embargo against Saudi Arabia in another threat to global oil supplies amid the US war against Iran.
Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ spokesman, said in a video announcement that the militia would enforce the shipping embargo in retaliation for last week’s bombing of Sanaa airport, which the group blamed on the Saudis.
After Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to US President Donald Trump’s illegal war election earlier this year, global oil markets became even more dependent on shipping supplies through the Strait of Bab al-Mandeb, a waterway adjacent to the coast of Yemen.
According to per Javier Blas, energy and commodities columnist at Bloomberg, Saudi Arabia has been sending roughly 4.5 million barrels of oil per day through shipping channels to the Red Sea, with “most of it” traveling through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
The Houthis’ announcement of an embargo against the Saudis comes as the US has continued to burn its crude inventory.
The data releasing from the U.S. Energy Information Administration found that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 1.7 million barrels during the week ending July 10, leaving stocks flat. the lowest level since 1983.
University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape warned that the closure of a vital global shipping lane by the Houthis could be a disaster for the global economy given that it could mean a “loss of another 4 to 5 million barrels (of oil) per day”.
“The Titanic is now hitting the iceberg,” Pape added“and there are not enough lifeboats for the world economy.”
Nicholas Grossman, professor of international relations at the University of Illinois, noted that there are now many factors impeding global energy shipments.
“Iran Blocks Strait of Hormuz,” Grossman has written. “US Blocks Iranian Ships. Iran Bombs Energy Facilities in Gulf Arab States. Bombing US Energy Facilities in Iran. Ukraine bombing of energy facilities in Russia. Huts obstruct shipping in the Red Sea. Oil and gas reserves are running out. It’s a lot and it adds up.”
Juliette Kayyem, senior lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School and a former The Obama administration official, wrote that the potential shutdown of global energy supplies should cause US policymakers to rethink what they can achieve using US military force.
“A panel of military and conventional analysts assured the American public that our air dominance was unparalleled.” has written Kayyem. The ‘never fair but always sure’ crowd didn’t realize that the fight would take place in the water.”
