Yemen's Houthi movement struck two Saudi oil tankers on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, in separate attacks across the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, marking the eighth and ninth vessels targeted since the group declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia last month. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree announced that ballistic missiles hit the tanker Wafa off the coast of Yanbu — Saudi Arabia's main Red Sea port — and that a subsequent strike on the tanker Daisy in the Gulf of Aden forced the vessel to turn back. Saudi authorities had not commented on either incident at the time of reporting.
The blockade, which the Houthis say began on July 22, is framed by the group as a retaliatory measure against what they describe as a Saudi siege on Yemen — an accusation Riyadh denies. Beyond the direct strikes, the Houthis claim to have turned back 29 additional vessels in the Red Sea. Saree warned that the group would now escalate attacks specifically in the northern Red Sea, where Saudi Arabia has been rerouting tankers to avoid the south. "We will close all access points and prevent their passage," he said, describing the strategy as a "blockade for blockade" equation.
The stakes are considerable. Iran's parallel closure of the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a substantial share of global oil exports normally flows — has already cut off Saudi Arabia's primary maritime export route to the east. That has forced the kingdom to rely almost entirely on Yanbu and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the narrow passage connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and, via the Suez Canal, to European and Mediterranean markets. Data from maritime tracker Kpler shows Saudi seaborne crude exports through Bab al-Mandeb surged eightfold between March and mid-July 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, reaching nearly 100 million barrels in June alone.
In response to the growing threat, Saudi Arabia has announced the formation of a multinational maritime defence coalition aimed at protecting freedom of navigation in the Bab al-Mandeb, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden. Riyadh has also confirmed airstrikes on Houthi positions in the western Yemeni province of Hudaydah, which it says are being used to threaten shipping lanes. The current escalation is described as the most intense since 2022, when a period of relative calm followed a UN-brokered truce.
The convergence of Iran's Hormuz closure and the Houthi blockade has placed Saudi Arabia's oil export infrastructure under simultaneous pressure from two directions, with analysts warning that disruptions extend well beyond the kingdom itself. The Red Sea corridor has become a critical artery for global energy trade, and sustained attacks on tankers navigating it risk broader consequences for oil supply chains and shipping costs worldwide.