The announcement, made by the group’s military spokesman, comes amid heightened regional tensions and a week after the most serious escalation in the largely dormant Houthi-Saudi conflict since an informal truce took effect in 2022.

The spokesman gave few details about how the embargo would be enforced. However, a Houthi media official said the group was closing the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the strategic southern gateway to the Red Sea, to Saudi vessels.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry condemned the announcement and vowed that the kingdom “will take all necessary measures to protect its ships in accordance with international law”.

The Red Sea has become increasingly important for Saudi oil shipments during the ongoing US-Israeli war with Iran, which has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf and disrupted a key global energy route.

The latest confrontation follows Houthi claims that the group launched missiles at Abha airport in south-western Saudi Arabia in response to air strikes on Sanaa airport. The Houthis blamed the strikes on Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi-backed Yemeni government claimed responsibility for the air strikes, saying they were intended to prevent an Iranian aircraft from landing in the capital without authorisation.

The renewed tensions threaten to further destabilise Yemen, which has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2014 when the Houthis ousted the government from Sanaa.

The conflict escalated in 2015 after a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states intervened in an effort to restore the internationally recognised government.

The war has reportedly killed more than 150,000 people and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. According to the United Nations, more than 22 million people in Yemen need some form of humanitarian assistance.