Cairo: Saudi Arabia said on Friday it shut down a major pipeline a day after it was attacked by drones, and Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels captured a strategic island at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, two officials said, opening a new front in the Iran war.
The Houthis made their biggest territorial gains in years along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's key shipping lanes. The advance could boost Iran's strategy of driving up world oil and gas prices to pressure the United States.
Saudi Arabia said it had shut down the East-West pipeline after it was attacked the day before. The Saudi Ministry of Energy called the shutdown “a precautionary measure.”
The Saudi Foreign Ministry blamed the attack on several drones that came from Iraq. In a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom said it would not respond to give the Iraqi government “an opportunity to take the necessary measures.”
Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who is also commander-in-chief of the military, ordered an investigation into the Maysan province operations command and dismissed its commander after authorities determined that attacks targeting Saudi Arabia were launched from a site in the province, government spokesperson Sabah al-Numan said in a statement early Saturday.
Saudi Arabia and the United States bombed Iranian-backed militias in Iraq in July, after blaming them for drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities that had been claimed by the Houthis. Regional officials told The Associated Press that the Houthis helped the Iraqi militias plan and execute the attacks.
Built in the 1980s, the East-West pipeline has played an important role in Saudi Arabia's ability to export oil following the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war. By early June, Saudi Arabia had more than doubled oil exports from the Red Sea port at the pipeline's end to more than 5 million barrels per day, according to the International Energy Agency.
The Houthis' capture of Mayun, a tiny, barren volcanic island inside the strait also known as Perim, was confirmed by a senior military official with Yemen's internationally recognised government and by a Houthi official. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to journalists.
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has increasingly relied on the Red Sea to get its crude to market as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been striking ships. Houthi efforts to close the 28-kilometre-wide Bab el-Mandeb channel have made that route more complicated.
In a statement on Friday, the Houthi armed forces boasted of gains along the coast without mentioning the island, Mokha or the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. They vowed “escalation for escalation” in the confrontation with Saudi Arabia, while declaring that “maritime navigation is safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels.”
Still, markets are nervous, and experts have described the Houthis as highly unpredictable. Crude prices this week soared again above USD 100 a barrel, giving Tehran more leverage in any talks.
The Houthis have been attacking Saudi shipping on the Red Sea since declaring a blockade in July, as well as hitting oil infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia. The rebels said they acted in response to the kingdom's yearslong blockade of Houthi-held parts of Yemen.
Saudi Arabia struck the airport in the port city of Mokha after the Houthis seized it on Thursday, a Houthi broadcaster said. There were no reports of damage or deaths.
A senior military official with Yemen's internationally recognised government told the AP they were stunned that the Saudi air force did not try to prevent the capture of Mokha, about 80 kilometres from the strait. He assessed that Saudi Arabia didn't get a green light from the US to embark on a large-scale air campaign.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't allowed to speak to the media, also blamed “lack of coordination” between Yemen's army and multiple allied militias, saying it gave the Houthis “a priceless opportunity.”
Shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait had fallen by about 60 per cent since the Houthis began attacking some ships there in late 2023 and expressing solidarity with
Palestinians in Gaza. Shipping increased this year as Saudi Arabia sought alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz, but renewed Houthi threats have “curtailed” that activity, according to Lloyd's List Intelligence. That has forced Saudi Arabia to find yet another alternative, sending its oil north out of the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, either via the Suez Canal or a pipeline through Egypt, a far longer route for its clients in Asia. The Houthis have threatened that route as well, striking a Saudi vessel in the north of the Red Sea in late August.