Yemen's Houthis Say They Attacked Saudi Oil Tanker in Red Sea

Yemen's Houthis said they attacked a Saudi oil tanker in the northern Red Sea, off the coast of Yanbu, using ballistic missiles.

The group "successfully targeted the Saudi oil tanker 'Wafa' in the northern Red Sea, off the coast of Yanbu, with a number of ballistic missiles," military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement.

It was the eighth Saudi oil tanker targeted since the start of the blockade on July 22, Saree said.

The Houthis declared they will escalate attacks in the northern Red Sea because Saudi Arabia is diverting its oil tankers there from the south in response to their blockade.

Saree said the blockade had pushed Saudi Arabia to divert "its oil tankers towards the northern Red Sea", and that the group would now "escalate in targeting Saudi oil tankers in the northern Red Sea to close all access points and prevent their passage".

The blockade has threatened top oil exporter Saudi Arabia's ability to get its supplies to the world, following Iran's parallel blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which cut off the kingdom's only other maritime route.

With Hormuz closed by Iran, the Saudi port of Yanbu on the Red Sea became the main exit point for Saudi oil, turning the Bab al-Mandeb Strait into a crucial transit route for crude. The narrow waterway connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and, via the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean.

Saudi seaborne crude exports via the Bab al-Mandeb strait surged eightfold between March and mid-July 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, according to data from maritime tracker Kpler.

Exports skyrocketed to nearly 100 million barrels in June, compared with 7 million barrels in February. In April and May, all of Saudi Arabia's seaborne crude exports departed from Yanbu port, Kpler data showed.