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. 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. “The Houthis will try to gain access over the Red Sea and they will try to charge ships if they do,” Afrah al-Zouba, foreign minister-designate with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, told Reuters. Red Sea traffic has not fully recovered since Houthi attacks off Yemen’s coast began in November 2023 in what the group said was an act of solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war.