Yemen's Ansarullah denied any plan to charge tolls on ships transiting Bab el-Mandeb, saying passage remains free

Yemen's Ansarullah movement and the Humanitarian Operations Coordination Centre in Sanaa on Saturday, 1 August 2026, denied published reports that they were planning to charge tolls on ships, stressing that transit through the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait remains free. The Humanitarian Operations Coordination Centre in Sanaa said passage through the strait continues to be free of charge and rejected reports of any plan to impose tolls on transiting vessels.

According to the IRNA news agency, the statement came at the same time that Reuters reported Ansarullah had denied planning to impose any levy on ships passing through Bab el-Mandeb.

Yemen had earlier declared a naval blockade against Riyadh in response to Saudi Arabia's blockade of Sanaa airport, under what it described as a "blockade for blockade" principle. Bab el-Mandeb, which links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, is alongside the Strait of Hormuz one of the two chokepoints that have put oil and goods flows under pressure this year. Any toll mechanism on the route would have fed directly into freight rates and marine insurance premiums, and through them into the landed cost of imported goods, which is why the denial matters to the shipping market.