Yemen Monitor / Newsroom:
The Yemeni government announced plans to submit a formal request to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, calling for an international investigation into the Houthi takeover of the oil tanker Nautica, which was originally designated by the United Nations as part of efforts to prevent an environmental disaster in the Red Sea by replacing the decaying FSO Safer.
Yemeni Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism Muammar Al-Eryani told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis have converted the Nautica into a floating storage unit for shipments of Iranian oil—a move he described as a “blatant violation” of the tanker’s intended humanitarian purpose and an abuse of UN-owned assets for wartime agendas.
Al-Eryani emphasized the government’s serious stance on the issue, noting that President Rashad Al-Alimi has instructed Yemen’s UN Ambassador, Abdullah Al-Saadi, to raise the matter during his address to the UN Security Council and to warn member states of the dangerous implications of what he called an ‘aggressive act’ that threatens not only Yemen but the entire region.
He stated that the government will pursue legal and diplomatic channels to hold the Houthi group—and those backing them—fully accountable for the unauthorized control of the vessel, citing international law and UN Security Council resolutions, particularly Resolution 2216.
The United Nations purchased the Nautica in 2023 for $55 million as a temporary vessel to offload approximately 1.1 million barrels of crude oil from the Safer, which has been stranded off the coast of Hodeidah for years. The UN continues to bear the operational and maintenance costs of the Nautica as part of a plan to avert a major oil spill that could devastate marine life and disrupt global shipping routes.
However, Al-Eryani warned that the Iran-backed Houthi group has repurposed the tanker to store oil imported from Tehran, especially after damage to facilities at Ras Issa oil terminal, exploiting the lack of international oversight, he claimed.
He added that both the Nautica and the Safer remain afloat despite their deteriorating condition, increasing the risk of leakage, explosion, or sinking, in the absence of proper monitoring.
Al-Eryani recalled that the Yemeni government had warned back in August 2023 of the possibility that the Houthis would misuse the Nautica, and had urged the UN to activate monitoring mechanisms—a call that, according to him, went largely unanswered.
He concluded by calling the incident a “dangerous precedent” that must be met with a firm international response—not only to protect UN resources, but also to prevent international humanitarian tools from being turned into instruments for fueling conflict and advancing regional agendas.
