Yemen’s ambassador to Japan raises Taiz siege and Red Sea shipping with Japanese official
Yemen Herald News 
TOKYO, Japan — Yemen’s ambassador to Japan asked Tokyo to keep up its support in talks with a senior Japanese foreign ministry official, the state news agency said.
Adel al-Sunaini met Keiichi Iwamoto in Tokyo, the agency Saba reported on Oct. 16.
Saba described Iwamoto as Japan’s deputy foreign minister and director-general for the Middle East and Africa. Japan’s foreign ministry lists an official of that name as head of its Middle East and Africa Bureau.
Al-Sunaini set out the Yemeni government’s efforts to rebuild state institutions, end the Houthi takeover and restore security, according to the agency.
He asked for continued international support.
He thanked Japan for backing Yemen’s unity, sovereignty and internationally recognised government, Saba said.
Iwamoto reaffirmed Japan’s support for Yemen’s unity, security and stability, according to the same account.
He raised the protection of international shipping routes and efforts toward peace in Yemen and the wider region.
The two also discussed bilateral relations and cooperation between their governments.
Al-Sunaini raised what he described as Houthi violations against civilians in Taiz and the siege of the city, along with restrictions on movement and on humanitarian aid.
The Houthis dispute government accounts of conditions in and around Taiz.
He also raised threats to shipping in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandab strait.
The account of the meeting rests on Saba, Yemen’s state news agency. Yemen Herald found no readout published by Japan’s foreign ministry and no independent confirmation of what was said.
Japan announced an emergency grant of $10 million for Yemen and Djibouti on Oct. 6.
Eight million dollars of it went to Yemen. That included $3 million for food assistance through the World Food Programme and $3 million for health, water and sanitation work through the International Committee of the Red Cross.
A further $2 million was allocated for shelter and other relief items through the International Organization for Migration.
The remaining $2 million is for Djibouti, channelled through the UN refugee agency for protection and shelter.
Japan’s foreign ministry cited regional peace and stability, including the Bab al-Mandab strait, among its reasons for the grant.
Japan has previously funded World Food Programme and UNICEF operations in Yemen, including contributions for nutrition, health, water and sanitation.
In a separate meeting, Mansour Bagash thanked Japan for its humanitarian support in talks with Japanese Ambassador to Yemen Yoichi Nakashima in Riyadh, Saba reported.
Bagash is under-secretary for political affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.
Taiz is Yemen’s third-largest city. It sits in the southwestern highlands and has been split by front lines for much of the past decade.
Houthi forces cut the main supply route into the city at the start of October, France 24 reported on Oct. 4. President Rashad al-Alimi announced a counter-offensive the same day.
Food and fuel prices inside Taiz rose as the encirclement tightened, Al Jazeera reported on Oct. 10.
Hospitals in the city were near collapse, the Yemeni government said on Oct. 11.
The government said on Oct. 13 that about 172,000 people had been displaced in Taiz governorate.
The World Food Programme said on Oct. 14 that it could no longer reach more than 600,000 people in Taiz, and 800,000 across Yemen.
Ten of the 16 districts in the governorate were already classified at emergency levels of food insecurity, the agency said.
The current round of fighting began on Aug. 6.
Japan announced a separate assistance package for Yemen worth about $13.8 million on Dec. 17, 2025, funded from its supplementary budget for that financial year.
About $12.62 million of that went to humanitarian work through the World Food Programme, UNICEF, the UN refugee agency, UNESCO, the UN Population Fund, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN Development Programme.
It covered nutrition, health, protection of displaced people, disaster response, water access, reproductive health, prevention of gender-based violence, mine action and support for people wounded in the fighting.
The remaining $1.18 million was set aside for what Japan called peace enhancement.
Of that, $960,000 went to the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism, run by the UN Office for Project Services, to support the flow of commercial goods into Yemen.
A further $220,000 went to the office of the UN special envoy for Yemen, for mediation and work toward a political settlement.
The mechanism checks cargo bound for Yemeni ports under a Security Council resolution.
The US Maritime Administration has issued advisories this year on Houthi attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab strait and the Gulf of Aden.
Shipping traffic through the strait slowed after attacks on Saudi Arabia in July, according to vessel-tracking data reported at the time.
Al Jazeera reported on Sept. 13 that Houthi forces had taken control of the Bab al-Mandab strait.
The strait links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and carries a large share of traffic between Europe and Asia.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government is based in Aden. The Houthi authorities administer Sanaa and much of the north.
Al-Sunaini has met Japanese officials on bilateral cooperation on earlier occasions, according to the Yemeni foreign ministry.
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