Japan Warns Houthi Attacks Threaten Bab el-Mandeb Shipping and Energy Security

Japan warned on Saturday that continued Houthi attacks, along with any actions that impede vessel navigation, risk worsening instability in the Middle East, putting fresh attention on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait as a shipping and energy-security chokepoint. Tokyo said the free and safe movement of ships through the strait matters not only to countries bordering the Red Sea, but to Japan and the wider international community.

The warning follows the Houthis’ July 20 declaration of a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia. Japan’s Foreign Ministry said the group’s subsequent military attacks have caused numerous casualties, including civilians, and renewed its condemnation of attacks on civilians, civilian facilities and actions that impede the safe navigation of vessels.

In its September 12 statement, the ministry called on the Houthis to avoid further escalation inside and outside Yemen. It said peace and stability in the Middle East, including the ability of vessels to move freely and safely through Bab el-Mandeb, are of the utmost importance from the standpoint of energy security.

Japan links safe passage to regional stability

Bab el-Mandeb sits between Yemen and the Horn of Africa and connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. Ships moving between the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal route must pass through the strait, making security there important for container traffic as well as crude oil and refined-product shipments.

International concern about attacks on commercial shipping predates Japan’s latest statement. The International Maritime Organization says U.N. Security Council Resolution 2812, adopted on January 14, 2026, extended a reporting mandate requiring monthly written reports on further Houthi attacks on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The IMO prepares verified maritime-incident reports that support those U.N. submissions.

The shipping risk has not been theoretical. The International Maritime Organization said on July 23 that renewed attacks in the Red Sea endangered seafarers and threatened international shipping, the marine environment and global supply chains. On August 12, the IMO reported that the cargo ship TIHAMAH had been hit by a projectile off Al Mokha, Yemen, and that several seafarer fatalities had been confirmed. The organization urged shipowners and operators to assess risks before transiting the region.

Bab el-Mandeb is carrying more oil in 2026

The energy-security element is especially important this year because disruption elsewhere in the Middle East has shifted more oil toward the Red Sea route. The U.S. Energy Information Administration describes Bab el-Mandeb as a major world oil transit chokepoint and an alternative route for Saudi crude that can bypass the Strait of Hormuz when supplies are moved across the kingdom to Red Sea ports.

Earlier attacks had already shown how quickly traffic can shift away from the corridor. EIA estimates put total oil flows through Bab el-Mandeb at 9.3 million barrels per day in 2023, before they fell to 4.1 million in 2024 and 4.2 million in the first half of 2025 as vessels diverted around the Cape of Good Hope. Liquefied natural gas flows through the strait were near zero in 2024 and the first half of 2025, underscoring how security concerns can change routing even without a formal closure of the waterway.

According to the EIA’s latest global energy-security data, crude oil and petroleum liquids moving through Bab el-Mandeb averaged 8.1 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2026. That was up from 5.4 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2025. Crude oil and condensate accounted for 6.1 million barrels per day of the second-quarter total, with petroleum products accounting for another 2.0 million barrels per day.

The increase followed a major change in regional trade patterns. The EIA said Saudi Arabia rerouted crude away from the Strait of Hormuz through its East-West pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu as Hormuz traffic became severely constrained. That made Bab el-Mandeb more important to the movement of barrels that might otherwise have left the Persian Gulf directly.

A serious disruption at Bab el-Mandeb would therefore affect a corridor that has already taken on extra work during a period of strained Middle East supply routes. Ships can avoid the Red Sea by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, but that route is longer and more expensive. Higher voyage times, fuel use, insurance costs or freight rates can add pressure to delivered energy costs even when physical oil production is unchanged.

Japan’s import dependence raises the stakes

Japan has a clear reason to frame safe navigation as an energy-security issue. The country’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy has said Japan depends on the Middle East for more than 90% of its crude oil requirements. The agency’s 2025 energy overview also put Japan’s energy self-sufficiency ratio at 16.4% in fiscal 2024 and said fossil fuels still supplied 80% of the country’s primary energy mix.

That dependence does not mean every barrel imported by Japan must pass through Bab el-Mandeb. Much of Japan’s Middle Eastern crude normally moves east from the Persian Gulf toward Asia rather than west through the Red Sea. The strait still matters to Japan because disruption can reshape global trade routes, tanker availability and pricing, especially when another chokepoint such as Hormuz is already under pressure.

The Foreign Ministry did not announce a new military response in Saturday’s statement. Instead, it said Japan would continue diplomatic efforts with the international community, including Yemen and Saudi Arabia, to seek an early de-escalation. That keeps Tokyo’s immediate response focused on diplomacy while making clear that continued attacks on shipping around the Red Sea are also an economic and energy-security concern.