Overview

• Yemen’s Houthi-linked HOCC named 13 U.S. companies, nine executives and two vessels, designating them hostile entities.
• The list includes Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, with HOCC saying designees will be handled under the “principle of confrontation.”
• The announcement runs counter to a truce with Washington not to strike U.S.-linked vessels, and analysts say any attack would breach an Oman-mediated ceasefire.
• The group recently claimed a cruise-missile strike on a Dutch cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden that injured two crew and left the vessel ablaze.
• Exxon Mobil and Chevron did not immediately comment, as HOCC framed the step as retaliation for U.S. sanctions and a bid to force “positive behavioral change.”