On July 29, Yemen's information minister Moammar al-Eryani stated that Houthi rebels, with assistance from Iran's Revolutionary Guards, are establishing a dedicated entity to collect fees from vessels transiting the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The accusations rest on intelligence cited by the minister, while additional details from other reporting remain unverified. Analyses of the claims diverge across progressive, conservative, libertarian, and evidentiary perspectives.