Yemen says Houthis seeking to mirror Iran’s pressure in Bab al-Mandeb 

Afrah al-Zouba, the Foreign Minister Designate of Yemen’s internationally recognised Saudi-backed government, said the Houthis were seeking to replicate Iran’s model of trying to impose control over international shipping around the Strait of Hormuz in the Bab al-Mandeb. The group had been emboldened by what she called an insufficiently serious international response to attacks on commercial shipping over the past few years, al-Zouba told a small group of journalists, including Reuters.