New Delhi, July 29 -- Yemen's government has accused the Iran-backed Houthi rebels of working with Tehran to establish a system for charging fees to commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, describing the alleged plan as a major threat to global shipping and energy markets.

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said on Wednesday (July 29) that recently obtained intelligence indicated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was helping the Houthis create a technical and administrative framework to collect payments from shipping companies using one of the world's busiest maritime corridors.

"The intelligence indicates that IRGC experts and advisers are directly involved in designing the technical an...