File Photo: Cranes and shipping containers at a loading dock of Jeddah's Islamic Seaport on Saudi Arabia's western Red Sea coast. AFP
Yemen's Houthi rebels said they would blockade Saudi Arabia's ports, threatening to throw energy markets into chaos after Iran's Strait of Hormuz blockade.
"If something like that happens, we take care of it," Trump said. "You know, we've done that with the Houthis before, and we haven't heard from them in a while since we did what we did originally."
Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the threat from what it called the "terrorist Houthi militia" and said it "continues to support the brotherly Yemeni people and their legitimate government".
It remains unclear how the Houthis would implement their blockade of Saudi ports, and oil markets eased slightly despite the threat from Iran's ally against the world's biggest crude exporter.
But maritime intelligence provider Vanguard Tech said a Singapore-flagged tanker and a Liberia-flagged tanker both "reversed course" in the Red Sea after loading crude at the Saudi port of Yanbu following the Houthi warning.
Should the Houthis make good on their threat to blockade Saudi ports, that would put at risk Riyadh's ability to bypass Hormuz for some of its oil exports and have major repercussions for the global economy.
Saudi Arabia and the Houthis traded fire last week for the first time in years, threatening a 2022 truce in their years-long conflict, but the rebels have largely remained on the sidelines since Israel and the US attacked Iran in late February.
The Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that two tankers attempting to transit Hormuz "were hit by explosions, resulting in massive fires that brought them to a standstill".
The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) earlier reported that an "unknown projectile" struck a tanker off the coast of Oman.
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