Yemen's foreign ministry welcomes three UN General Assembly statements on Bab al-Mandab and the Houthis

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ADEN, Yemen — Yemen’s foreign ministry welcomed three joint statements issued at the UN General Assembly that back the government and warn against disrupting Bab al-Mandab navigation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates set out its response in a statement carried by the state news agency Saba. Yemen Monitor reported the same statement. The texts of the three underlying declarations were published by the governments that issued them.

The first came from a quadrilateral consultative meeting of the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan and Türkiye. The four met in New York during the 81st session of the General Assembly.

They reaffirmed support for the Presidential Leadership Council and the Yemeni government, according to Yemen Monitor. They backed a political process and an inclusive Yemeni-led dialogue.

The four condemned all attacks targeting Saudi Arabia, including recent Houthi attacks. They said the kingdom has an inherent right to defend itself under international law and the UN Charter.

They said dialogue and diplomacy were the only means of reaching sustainable solutions. They pointed to the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.

The second statement came from the G7 foreign ministers and the European Union’s high representative. Global Affairs Canada published it on 22 September from New York. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States signed it.

The G7 ministers said the situation in Yemen represents what they called an unacceptable threat to regional stability and security, to global energy security, and to navigational rights and freedoms in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab strait.

They called on the Houthis to cease all military actions and attacks against civilian shipping and to return to the political process. They called on Iran to end its arming of and support for the group, citing Security Council resolutions 1747, 2140 and 2216.

The ministers said that pattern of escalation risked undermining international trade and creating economic instability. They cited flows of energy, fertiliser and food, and said lasting disruption would fall on vulnerable populations in the region and beyond.

They expressed solidarity with the Yemeni government and with Saudi Arabia. They restated their commitment to Yemen’s unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and their support for UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg.

Iran denies arming the Houthis. The group says it acts independently of Tehran.

The third statement came from the European and Indo-Pacific Partners grouping. Australia, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom issued it on 22 September, also in New York. It was the group’s second meeting on the margins of the assembly, after a first in September 2025.

That text said disruption of sea lanes, including the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, was unacceptable. It named force, threat and the introduction of unlawful tolls or conditions for transit as forms of disruption. It called on all countries to speak out wherever it occurs.

Yemen’s ministry said the statements confirmed support for the Presidential Leadership Council. It said the way to resolve the crisis lies in ending what it called the Houthi coup, restoring state institutions and asserting state authority.

The ministry held the Houthis responsible for the attacks and their consequences. It said it also holds Iran accountable for continuing military support to the group and for using Yemen’s location to serve a regional agenda. The Houthis reject that characterisation and present their operations as a response to Saudi and Western action.

The ministry called on the international community to turn the statements into practical measures. It asked for enforcement of relevant Security Council resolutions, a halt to the flow of Iranian weapons and military expertise, and disruption of the group’s financing and supply networks.

The statements followed three weeks of fighting on Yemen’s western coast. Houthi forces took control of the country’s Red Sea coastline in early September, Al Jazeera reported on 11 September. The advance gave the group Perim Island and the Hanish Islands and a position astride Bab al-Mandab.

The Houthis seized the port city of Mokha during the same push, according to that reporting.

The Security Council met on Houthi control of the strait on 15 September at France’s request. Members condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia in a press statement last week.

Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s high representative, said navigation must be free and unimpeded in both Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab. She spoke after meeting Iran’s foreign minister in New York, Euronews reported on 23 September.

The fighting has driven a new wave of displacement. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says at least 125,000 people have been displaced across Yemen since the start of September. That is about 18,000 households.

OCHA’s humanitarian plan for 2026, published in March, put more than 22 million people in need of assistance. It recorded 18.3 million as acutely food insecure and more than 2.2 million children under five as acutely malnourished, 516,157 of them severely.

The plan counted 5.2 million internally displaced people. It sought 2.16 billion dollars to reach 12 million of those in need.

The ministry did not say what measures it expected from any individual government.