UK and US sanction senior Houthis over Red Sea shipping attacks

Attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis have disrupted global shipping and stoked fears of global inflation.

Britain and the United States on Thursday (Jan 25) said they had imposed coordinated sanctions on four key Houthi figures for their roles in supporting or directing attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis have disrupted global shipping and stoked fears of global inflation. They have also deepened concern that fallout from the Israel-Hamas war could destabilize the Middle East.

Those sanctioned were Houthi Defence Minister Mohamed Nasser al-Atifi, Commander of Houthi Naval Forces Muhammad Fadl Abd Al-Nabi, coastal defence forces chief Muhammad Ali al-Qadiri and Muhammed Ahmad al-Talibi, who the two governments described as the Houthi forces' director of procurement.

"With our allies, we will continue to target those responsible for the Houthis’ unacceptable and illegal actions, which risk innocent seafarers’ lives and disrupt aid deliveries to the Yemeni people," British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who is on a visit to the Middle East, said in a statement.