Saudi Arabia has suspended operations on a key oil pipeline, one day after Iraqi drones struck the route on Thursday.
The kingdom’s East-West pipeline, which transports roughly 5 percent of the world’s oil supply, was taken offline as a “precautionary measure,” according to the Saudi Ministry of Energy.
In comments published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Arabia said it would hold off on any response in order to give Baghdad “an opportunity to take the necessary measures.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who also serves as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, ordered an inquiry into the Maysan province operations command and removed its leader after officials concluded that attacks on Saudi Arabia had been launched from a site in the province. Government spokesman Sabah al-Numan announced the measures in a statement issued early Saturday.
Saudi Arabia and the United States carried out strikes against Iranian-backed militias in Iraq in July, after accusing the groups of launching drone assaults on Saudi oil infrastructure that the Houthis had claimed responsibility for.
Officials across the region told The Associated Press that Yemen’s Houthi movement assisted Iraqi militias in preparing and carrying out those attacks.
Constructed in the 1980s, the East-West pipeline has long been central to Saudi Arabia’s oil export strategy, particularly after disruption in the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war highlighted the need for alternative routes.
By early June, Saudi oil exports from the Red Sea terminal at the pipeline’s western end had climbed to more than five million barrels a day, more than double previous levels, International Energy Agency data showed.
A satellite image shows black smoke rising from an area of Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline south of Medina, Hejaz Region, Saudi Arabia September 10, 2026
The shutdown came only hours after Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized the strategically important island of Mayun at the southern gateway to the Red Sea, creating another front in the Iran war.
The capture of the tiny island was confirmed by a senior military official with Yemen’s internationally recognized government and by a Houthi official.
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 17-mile Bab el-Mandeb channel have made that route more complicated.
In a statement 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.’
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Still, markets are nervous, and experts have described the Houthis as highly unpredictable.
Crude prices this week soared again above $100 a barrel, giving Tehran more leverage in any talks.
File image: Yemen’s Houthi rebels march during a mobilization campaign in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026
The Bab al-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and is used as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively shut down
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 Thursday, a Houthi broadcaster said. There were no reports of damage or deaths.
A senior military official with Yemen’s internationally recognized government told the AP they were stunned that the Saudi air force did not try to prevent the capture of Mokha, about 50 miles from the strait.
He assessed that Saudi Arabia didn’t get a green light from the U.S. 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% 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.