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... The Houthis were looking into imposing fees on most traffic through the narrow Bab el-Mandeb gateway, which links the southern Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, the sources said. No timeframe was given at this stage for implementation, they added.

The Houthis' media office did not respond to a request for comment.

Houthi officials travelled to Iran in July for the funeral ceremony of late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, where Iranian counterparts discussed with them the issue of imposing fees on Bab el-Mandeb transits, two regional officials briefed by Tehran told Reuters.

The objectives of such a move would be to normalise the practice of imposing fees on international waterways and increase pressure on the United States, the sources said. Chinese ships would be exempted from such fees and the Houthis were supportive of the arrangement, they added.

China has held direct talks with the Houthis to enable its tankers to sail through the southern Red Sea without being attacked, sources have told Reuters. China is the world's biggest buyer of Saudi Arabian oil. ...