Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Dr. Afrah Al-Zouba discussed today, during a phone call with Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani, bilateral relations, the implications of the Houthi escalation for the security of Yemen and the region and for international navigation, as well as ways to mobilize support for the Yemeni government.<\/p>\n
The Foreign Minister briefed her Italian counterpart on the latest developments related to the escalation by the terrorist Houthi militia in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, including its recent attacks in Taiz, Hodeidah and along the western coast, targeting civilians, civilian objects and vital infrastructure, which have caused large-scale displacement and further increased humanitarian needs.<\/p>\n
The Minister noted that the Iranian regime\u2019s continued support for the militia is fuelling its escalation and increasing the threats it poses to the security of Yemen and neighbouring countries, as well as to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab and the Gulf of Aden, placing global trade routes, supply chains and energy supplies at risk. She stressed that Yemen\u2019s security and stability, and the protection of these strategic waterways, are a shared regional and international interest.<\/p>\n
Dr. Al-Zouba expressed appreciation for Italy\u2019s support for the Yemeni government and its humanitarian contributions. She underscored the importance of strengthening bilateral, European and international coordination to support state institutions, enhance the capabilities of Yemen\u2019s naval and coast guard forces, halt the flow of Iranian weapons, financing and military expertise to the militia, and enforce relevant UN Security Council resolutions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She further stressed that restoring the state\u2019s authority over its coasts, ports and islands is essential to sustainably safeguarding maritime navigation and preventing strategic waterways and international trade routes from being used as instruments of coercion.<\/p>\n
The call also addressed ways to build on the historic relations between the two friendly countries, which this year mark a century since their establishment, and to expand cooperation across various fields. The two ministers agreed to hold a bilateral meeting in the coming period to continue consultations and explore further opportunities for cooperation and coordination.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For his part, the Italian Foreign Minister reaffirmed his country\u2019s support for the Yemeni government and state institutions and its continued assistance through the European Union, the United Nations and the G7, and in coordination with members of the UN Security Council. He also reiterated Italy\u2019s condemnation of Houthi attacks against Yemen and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and affirmed Italy\u2019s commitment to continuing its contribution to strengthening maritime security and regional stability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Dr. Afrah Al-Zouba discussed today, during a phone call with Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani, bilateral relations, the implications of the Houthi escalation for the security of Yemen and the region and for international navigation, as well as ways to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":39550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[74,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-breaking-news","category-ministry-news"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG-20260916-WA0056.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39554,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39553\/revisions\/39554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mofa-ye.org\/Pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}