Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on Thursday, igniting fires on both vessels and threatening to shut down a maritime corridor that carries 12% of global trade. The strikes mark a dangerous escalation that could simultaneously disrupt two of the world's most critical shipping routes while the Iran war continues to restrict Persian Gulf traffic.
The Houthis announced they've closed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Saudi-linked shipping, retaliating against the kingdom's blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on Sanaa's international airport. Saudi's state-run news agency confirmed a fire on a tanker following the attack, as did the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center. No casualties were reported.
Critical Chokepoint at Risk
Bab el-Mandeb sits at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Around 12% of the world's trade passes through these narrows, including a fourth of global container traffic. The strait's importance has surged since the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war severely limited Persian Gulf shipping.
Three Houthi officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday the group has spent months planning how to disrupt shipping in the strait. Those plans include naval mines, explosive-laden boats, drones and helicopters to board ships. Vessels would first receive warnings not to cross designated boundaries. If ships ignore those warnings, the Houthis would resort to military action.
The rebels said they'd only stop vessels connected to Saudi Arabia or using its Red Sea ports. But during a similar blockade announced against Israel over the war in Gaza, the rebels attacked many vessels with little or no connection to that conflict. The threat alone could keep international shippers from using the route.
Oil Markets Face New Pressure
More than 7 million barrels of petroleum a day transited Bab el-Mandeb in June, compared to around 4 million before the Iran war, according to Allison Minor, director of the Atlantic Council's Project for Middle East Integration. Saudi Arabia has been recently exporting some 4 million barrels of oil a day through its Red Sea port of Yanbu, blunting the impact of the Strait of Hormuz closure, which has still rattled economies around the world.
"If Bab el-Mandeb comes under pressure at the same time as shipping in the Gulf, you have disruption around two of the world's most important maritime routes at once," Clionadh Raleigh, founder of ACLED, a conflict monitoring service, said.
Saudi Arabia could still get crude to market without using Bab el-Mandeb by shipping up to 2.5 million barrels a day across the Red Sea to Egypt, whose SUMED pipeline can carry it to the Mediterranean. It could also ship 1 million barrels a day through the Suez Canal. But these alternatives don't fully replace the threatened capacity.
International shippers could reroute around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, as they did at the height of the war in Gaza. That means adding one or two weeks to voyages and raising costs. In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has shown that even sporadic attacks on ships can effectively close a critical waterway by driving up risks and insurance premiums.
U.S., Saudi Responses
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a measured response Thursday. "I hope they'll stop. They shouldn't really do that," he said during a regional summit in the Philippines. "I think the Houthis, frankly, got snookered into this thing by the Iranians. And they were smart to stay out of it, and they should stay out of it and they should stop."
Saudi Arabia's military says it'll keep Bab el-Mandeb open. "All Houthi threats against transiting vessels will be dealt with swiftly and firmly, as such threats are a blatant violation of international law and fall under acts of maritime piracy," said Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a Saudi military spokesperson.
The Houthis run the risk of reigniting the war with Saudi Arabia and its allies in Yemen, where major fighting ended with a truce 4 years ago. The Houthis attacked over 100 vessels at the height of the war in Gaza, before a punishing U.S. and Israeli air campaign put an end to the attacks in early 2025.
Regional Proxy Dynamics
Yemen's civil war began 12 years ago when the rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen, forcing the government into exile. Saudi Arabia led an international coalition fighting the rebels and also imposed an air and sea blockade on Houthi-held parts of Yemen that eased in recent years.
The Houthis say Saudi Arabia struck the airport in Sanaa earlier this month in an attempt to stop a flight carrying Houthi leaders back from Iran, where they'd attended the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The plane landed safely at another airport. The Houthis then launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia's Abha International Airport in the most significant confrontation in years.
Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the threat to Saudi Arabia also benefits the Houthis' ally, Iran, at a time when the U.S. has resumed daily airstrikes. "From Iran's perspective, opening additional pressure points across the region gives it more leverage," Nagi said. "The Houthis provide Tehran with influence over one of the world's most important maritime chokepoints."
The Houthis say closing Bab el-Mandeb to Saudi traffic aims to break the coalition's blockade.
Why This Matters:
The simultaneous threat to both Bab el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz exposes the vulnerability of global commerce to regional instability and Iranian proxy warfare. Markets depend on predictable shipping routes, and insurance costs alone can make passages economically unviable even without direct attacks. Saudi Arabia's oil exports through alternative routes can't fully compensate for lost capacity, meaning energy prices face upward pressure at a time when economies are still adjusting to disruptions from the Iran war. The Houthis' willingness to attack vessels with tenuous connections to their stated targets—demonstrated during the Gaza conflict—means any shipper using these waters faces elevated risk. Iran's strategy of leveraging proxy forces to control maritime chokepoints gives Tehran outsized influence over global trade flows, demonstrating how regional conflicts directly threaten the international economic order that depends on freedom of navigation.