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