Houthi embargo puts Saudi Red Sea oil route at risk

In a statement, spokesman for the Houthi breakaway Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree Qasim Saree, said the move was a response to Saudi Arabia’s targeting of Sana’a International Airport in a recent attack, as well as “its unjust and oppressive siege on our dear people for nearly twelve years, plundering our resources and imposing a comprehensive blockade on our ports and airports by land, sea, and air.”   During a recent period of relative peace around the Bab el Mandeb Strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, the Houthi have repeatedly threatened to close the waterway to international traffic since the start of the war between the US and Iran.      Last week, Reuters reported that Iran had briefed its Houthi allies to close the Bab el Mandeb Strait should the US target Iranian power infrastructure in the ongoing conflict.

The Houthi have demonstrated their ability to target international shipping off Yemen's coast. the group launched a campaign of attacks on ships in late 2023 that reshaped global supply chains as vessels detoured around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the threat of attack, seizure, or destruction in southern Red Sea. Most container shipping companies still swallow the cost and delay of shunning the Suez Canal route in favour of the Cape of Good Hope diversion to avoid the Red Sea.   While the details of the Houthi embargo were not laid out, any threat to Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea on Saudi Arabia’s west coast carries amplified economic risk to the nation due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz on its east coast. The pressure has energy majors looking for alternatives to keep oil flowing out of the Middle East.      Saudi crude oil volumes have increasingly been diverted from the usual Gulf export routes, flowing instead by pipeline for export via the Red Sea port of Yanbu. Since the start of the Iran conflict, Saudi Arabia began loading VLCCs with crude destined for Asia at Yanbu, but those ships must then travel via Bab el Mandeb — within reach of Houthi attacks.   Stunting the flow of Saudi crude out of the Red Sea will inflict further economic damage on a nation that has already seen its crude oil exports fall to lows not seen in decades, while volumes transported to the Red Sea by pipeline for export have quadrupled in the months since the US-Iran war started. For the first half of July, around 75% of Saudi crude and condensate exports were via Yanbu, according to Kpler data.

While there was a return to near-normality for Saudi oil exports in the Gulf in June 2026 after the signing of a peace MoU between the US and Iran, Hormuz has slammed close once again. Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz hit fresh lows in recent days as Iran continues to assert its control of the narrow waterway by attacking ships choosing to use the US-administered southern route through Suez off the Oman coast.

Kpler reported 30 transits in the period 17-19 July, compared to JMIC's pre-war level of 138 vessels per day.   The most recent incident suspected to involve Iran saw Dynacom tanker Kavomaleas set ablaze off Oman and its crew abandon ship. As of 19 July, there had been 11 Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz since 25 June, according to JMIC figures.    Iran’s use of Hormuz has also been cut off by a renewed US military blockade. As of July 19, the blockade had redirected six vessels and disabled one vessel, according to US Central Command.