The conflict spreading across the Middle East has now arrived on Yemen's shores, the UN's senior official in the country told the Security Council, warning that Houthi attacks on critical waterways are threatening to pull Yemen into the "vortex" of the wider war.
"Yemen today faces a more serious risk of return to large-scale conflict than at any point since the 2022 UN-mediated truce," said Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen. Citing intensifying military activity along the country's frontlines — including recent attacks by the group Ansar Allah, commonly known as the Houthis — he warned that regional trade and energy flows are already under extreme pressure. "Attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden […] risk deepening Yemen's entanglement with the wider regional confrontation," he said.
Grundberg recounted several serious incidents in July, some of them deadly, including an unauthorized flight from Tehran toward Sana'a followed by airstrikes on Sana'a's airport, missile attacks on Abha airport, and strikes on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. The truce, he stressed, was "always designed as a means, not an end," with its primary objective being to open the way to a comprehensive political settlement. A return to large-scale fighting would come at an "unforgiving moment," with Yemen's state institutions still fragmented and its economy unstable.
Grundberg called on both the Yemeni government and the Houthis to immediately de-escalate and work toward a ceasefire, adding that "economic de-escalation" is urgently needed and that the resumption of oil exports would provide a critical income source. He also called on the Houthis to release 73 UN personnel still arbitrarily detained alongside non-governmental colleagues.
Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, told the Council that 6 million people across Yemen — the highest number globally — are experiencing emergency levels of deprivation, nearing famine. Nearly 11 million women and girls require humanitarian support, four out of five women lack access to life-saving reproductive health services, and an estimated three women die every day from preventable, pregnancy-related complications. In 2025, the UN reached an average of 5.3 million people monthly, but with the humanitarian appeal just barely 20 per cent funded, Fletcher warned that cuts mean fewer rations, closed clinics, and disappearing services.
Several Council members condemned the Houthi attacks. Greece's representative said that "the security of navigation in the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden is a matter of critical international importance," and that the Houthis must not drag Yemen into a wider regional conflict or undermine efforts toward a political settlement. Bahrain's representative condemned the Iran-backed Houthis' continued pursuit of foreign agendas "at the expense of the lives, security, livelihoods and future of the Yemeni people," urging the Council to adopt a clear and firm stance to protect seafarers and hold accountable those responsible for attacks on vessels and shipping lanes.
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