UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply alarmed by a renewed campaign of Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said, after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis claimed strikes on two Saudi oil tankers a day earlier as part of what they described as a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis said they had targeted the tankers, raising concerns about a potential new threat to global energy supplies alongside disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
"The Secretary-General is deeply alarmed by the resumption of Houthi attacks on commercial vessels transiting in the Red Sea and the renewed threats to maritime navigation," Dujarric told reporters.
Dujarric warned that the attacks risked escalating tensions across the region and could draw Yemen further into a wider conflict.
"The attacks on the commercial vessels claimed by the Houthis risk further heightening regional tensions and widening of the current cycle of escalation with the potential to draw Yemen deeper into the regional conflict," he said.
He said renewed fighting would undermine efforts to secure peace in Yemen and could have broad economic, humanitarian and environmental repercussions.
"Further hostilities in Yemen will undermine prospects for peace and cause serious economic, humanitarian and environmental consequences across and beyond the region," Dujarric said.
Guterres called for an immediate de-escalation and urged the Houthis to halt any further attacks in line with UN Security Council resolutions demanding an end to assaults on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
He added that freedom of navigation through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a critical maritime chokepoint linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, must be restored.
The Houthi threat to Saudi-bound shipping has heightened fears of disruptions to one of the world's most important oil transport routes, at a time when traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has already come under severe pressure from regional tensions.