The deputy foreign minister in Yemen’s Houthi-run administration in Sanaa has warned that the group could shut the Bab Al Mandeb Strait if US President Donald Trump continues policies they say are obstructing peace efforts.

In a statement posted on X, Hussein Al Ezzi said: “If Sanaa decides to close the Bab Al Mandeb, then all of mankind and jinn will be utterly powerless to open it.”

He added that it would be “best for Trump — and the complicit world — to immediately end all practices and policies that obstruct peace” and to recognise what he described as the rights of the Yemeni people.

The Bab Al Mandeb Strait links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and is a strategic maritime chokepoint that funnels shipping towards the Suez Canal.

At its narrowest point, the waterway is about 29km wide, with vessel traffic confined to two shipping lanes.

The strait is one of the world’s most important maritime routes for global trade, carrying large volumes of crude oil and fuel from the Gulf region to the Mediterranean, as well as shipments bound for Asia, including Russian energy exports.