Qatar warns against ‘catastrophic’ Bab el-Mandeb closure

By AFP 15 September 2026, 2:00 pm

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A photo taken from the Yemeni coast southwest of the city of Taiz, shows boats floating at Bab el-Mandeb Strait, in the Red Sea, on July 24, 2026. (Khaled ZIAD/AFP)

Qatar warns of dire consequences if the vital Bab el-Mandeb waterway were to close, after a months-long blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and recent Houthi gains on the Red Sea coast.

“The world is suffering enough with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, so we cannot also afford to add the Bab el-Mandeb into that equation,” Qatar foreign ministry official Ibrahim Al Hashmi tells reporters.

He says a closure of the southern entrance to the Red Sea would be “catastrophic for the entire world. And we are already seeing the consequences… so Qatar is pushing for diplomacy, dialogue.”