GERMANY PERSPECTIVE

Berlin, July 21, 2026. For the German economic and general press, the announcement of a Houthi maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia opens an additional front in a US-Iran war that, according to Tagesschau, is increasingly resembling a "semi-permanent conflict" with no diplomatic solution in sight.

The Houthi spokesperson, Jahja Sari, announced in a video, as reported by Zeit Online, that the blockade is effective "immediately", targeting the "criminal Saudi enemy" based on the principle of "an eye for an eye". The movement, supported by Tehran, justifies its decision by citing the "unjust and oppressive siege" that Riyadh has imposed on Yemen for nearly twelve years, blocking ports and airports. The previous week, the Houthis had already threatened to strike Saudi oil installations; reports indicate that Iran has asked the militia to prepare to close the oil shipping route in the Red Sea.

The Bab al-Mandab Strait, off the coast of Yemen, has a comparable importance to the Strait of Ormuz for global trade, according to Zeit. Handelsblatt notes that Riyadh had redirected two-thirds of its pre-war exports to its Red Sea terminals, a detour that had so far limited the price increase. Commerzbank analyst Norman Liebke warns that "in the event of a blockade of the strait as part of a new escalation, the oil price should rise further"; according to Bloomberg, speculative funds have strengthened their bullish bets on Brent like never before in nearly ten years. The barrel has risen by nearly a fifth since July 8, the date on which Donald Trump declared the mid-June ceasefire agreement null and void.

On the ground, the Pentagon has conducted a ninth consecutive night of strikes against Iran, targeting, according to CENTCOM, command centers, air defenses, and missile launch sites. A third American soldier has died in Iraq, killed by the debris of an unexploded Iranian drone, after the death of two soldiers on Friday in Jordan - bringing the official number of US military personnel killed to 16. Although a proposal for a ten-day pause in strikes had been reported by mediators just before the Houthi announcement, no credible diplomatic initiative has emerged, as the strikes have now exceeded their initial scope: Iranian bridges destroyed, Kuwaiti desalination plants bombed, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the line of fire.