A July study estimates that businesses in Houthi-controlled Yemen provide about $2.5 billion a year in payments and imposed costs, while U.S. officials cite a separate oil revenue stream exceeding $2 billion. The estimates describe different sources and do not trace money to specific missile launches against Saudi Arabia.
The Mokha Center for Strategic Studies based its estimate on nearly 68,000 commercial records and licenses from Houthi-controlled areas issued between 2014 and 2025, alongside international reports and official documents. It did not identify an audited government ledger recording the full $2.5 billion as a single sum.
The study attributes $800 million a year to taxes and customs, $600 million to additional fees and levies, $300 million to cash and goods contributed to the war effort, and $100 million to mobilization events. Those direct categories total $1.8 billion. The remaining $700 million represents indirect costs businesses bear for transport, services and other charges, rather than cash collected by the group.
The center links the expansion of collections to Yemen’s economic fragmentation and declining state revenue. It says Houthi-linked firms gained advantages in profitable sectors while independent traders faced higher costs. Businesses may pass some of those expenses on through prices for goods and services.
On Jan. 16, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said the Houthis generated more than $2 billion a year through illicit oil sales. The department alleged Iran sells oil to the group and also supplies a monthly shipment at no charge through companies in Dubai that it described as Iranian-owned or affiliated. Treasury said Houthi payments go to UAE-based exchanges through exchange companies in Sana’a. It also said the Sana’a-based Al-Ridhwan Exchange and Transfer Company facilitated payments for weapons procurement and other activities, and announced sanctions against the firm.
“Treasury will use all tools at its disposal to expose the networks and individuals enabling Houthi terrorism,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the announcement.
Separately, the Saudi Press Agency reported that on Saturday, Oct. 24, a spokesperson for the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen said two Houthi-launched ballistic missiles aimed at Taif and Yanbu had been intercepted and destroyed.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said its 2026 Yemen Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan estimated that 22.3 million people would need humanitarian assistance and protection that year.
