Saudi’s Remaining Energy Lifeline To The World Under Threat After Successful Houthi Strikes

Just hours ago, the Saudi Aramco refinery at Jazan on the Red Sea was engulfed in flames after a Houthi missile and drone attack. Strikes at the heart of the Saudi’s energy infrastructure on the Red Sea, which acts as the remaining primary lifeline of energy exports out of the region, threatens to drastically impact global oil prices further, a concern we have been raising for some time. In the wake of the attack and additional fighting in the Persian Gulf, oil prices surged toward the $100 per-gallon mark.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a qualitative, large-scale military operation, targeting the Aramco company in Abha, Najran and the Economic City, Aramco in Jizan, and Khamis Mushait Air Base with dozens of ballistic missiles and drones,” Houthi spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree stated on Telegram. “The strikes were precise, by God’s grace, and direct, causing major damage to those facilities.”

Saree claimed that the strikes were “in response to the Saudi aggression that targeted our people and our country with 121 air strikes over the past three days.”

Saudi officials confirmed Houthi attacks and said they would retaliate.

“The terrorist Houthi Militia’s senseless attacks, the latest of which targeted civilian and economic sites in the cities of (Abha, Khamis Mashait, Jazan and Najran) resulting in injuries to (73) civilians, including women and children, constitute a blatant violation of the Kingdom’s sovereignty and a direct threat to the security and safety of its citizens and residents,” anti-Houthi coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki stated on X. 

“The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition will take all necessary operational measures to deter this Terrorist Militia and resolutely confront its hostile approach, in defense of the Kingdom’s sovereignty, the preservation of its national assets and the safety of its citizens and residents,” Al-Maliki added. “The Command will also take all necessary measures and actions to respond to the sources of the threat and neutralize its danger.”

“…several energy sector facilities and installations in the southern region of the Kingdom were targeted this morning,” the Saudi Ministry of Energy stated on X. The attacks “caused fires at several locations, leading to a temporary halt in some operations,” the ministry added. “Specialized field teams have begun containing the fires, securing the sites and assessing the damage.”

Videos on social media this morning showed the Saudi Aramco facility still burning after the attacks.

Data from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) indicates a large amount of ongoing thermal anomalies in and near the massive Jazan refinery.

The Houthi attacks inside Saudi Arabia came amid increased fighting in Yemen between the rebels and anti-Houthi forces backed by Riyadh.

The conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis grew out of a civil war in Yemen that erupted in 2014. It expanded a year later when a Saudi-led coalition joined forces with the government ousted by the Houthis and raged on until the parties reached a tenuous ceasefire in 2022. The Saudis held off on getting involved in the recent Red Sea conflict which saw the U.S. and coalition warships duking it out with the Houthis, and eventually led to a U.S.-led air campaign over Yemen. Tensions, however, reignited after that conflicted ended when the Houthis joined the U.S.-Iran conflict on the side of their major supporter. The Houthis recently imposed a blockade on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and began striking Saudi ships in the Red Sea as well as refineries.

As we have frequently detailed, Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure put further pressure on oil exports from the Middle East, already drastically affected by the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the resumption of the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports. Saudi Arabia has diverted millions of barrels of oil per day through pipelines to its Yanbu port on the Red Sea in an effort to minimize the energy shortages due to the hostilities near the Persian Gulf. This also raised the specter of the U.S. having to get as involved as it did during the previous Houthi campaign against shipping that ended last September, which could pull resources away from Iranian-focused operations, if supporting such an operation is even possible at all at this point. The bottom line here is that if the Houthis stop Saudi oil from transiting through the Bab el Madeb strait and the Suez Canal, this last lifeline of energy to Europe and Asia and beyond would be severed. This would drastically exacerbate an already ballooning oil crisis.

The Houthi strikes on Tuesday followed a spike in attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Last week, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it destroyed three Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) oil tankers after the Iranians fired ballistic missiles at U.S. warships.

On Tuesday, “American forces have struck multiple Iranian tankers tied to the IRGC in response to more attempted missile attacks on a U.S. Navy warship,” a U.S. official told TWZ.

The CENTCOM strikes are part of the Trump administration’s new tanker-for-a-tanker policy of hitting Iranian vessels in response to Tehran’s attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This marks a change from previous incidents where ships were only attacked for running the ongoing U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports. The sinking of one of the Iranian tankers in the most recent strikes is another escalation. Previous incidents following major combat operations during Epic Fury involved U.S. forces disabling Iranian transport vessels, not sinking them.

“Following Iran’s failed attacks, CENTCOM permanently disabled the IRGC crude oil carriers M/T Downy off the coast of Kharg Island and M/T Stark 1 near Jask,” the command stated on X on Saturday. “American forces also completely destroyed the unladen crude oil carrier M/T Kylo (also known as the “Noxen”) in the Gulf of Oman, striking the vessel in multiple critical locations to render it inoperable after the crew was directed to abandon ship.”

The three Iranian crude oil tankers “are part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies,” the command added. “Iran has no means by which to defend them.”

“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost —taking out three of yours,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. “We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”

In addition to the tanker attacks, CENTCOM is maintaining its naval blockade of Iranian ports. “As of Sept. 6, U.S. forces have redirected 92 commercial vessels, disabled 3 and boarded 2 to ensure strict compliance,” the command stated on X.

As these events unfold, the price of oil is rising further, as we noted earlier in this piece. As of noon on Tuesday, the per barrel price of Brent crude was trading at nearly $98, a $10 per barrel gain from Aug. 26, according to OilPrice.com.

Analysts said the price reflected “the market’s recognition that there is no end in sight for the conflict in the Middle East, which has disrupted oil flows through two vital arteries: the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea,” The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

“Oil market participants are now pricing in a more prolonged disruption to shipping flows,” Hamad Hussain, a senior economist with Capital Economics, a research firm, told the publication. “They and other analysts have raised oil price estimates, based on an expectation of increased disruptions.”

Amid the strikes on oil-related targets, Iran claimed it captured an Anduril Dive-LD UUV and is in the process of reverse-engineering it. The IRGC released video and images of the device.

The IRGC “captured one of the most modern intelligent and unmanned submarines of the terrorist U.S. military at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz at dawn today, in a complex operation involving intelligence and operational surveillance,” the organization claimed.

The vessel “possesses the latest technology in the field of underwater systems in the world and was delivered to the fleet of the terrorist U.S. military in 2025,” the IRGC added.

Asked if Iran captured a UUV, a U.S. official denied that the Iranians obtained anything sensitive.

“An underwater drone operated by U.S. forces malfunctioned more than a day ago,” a U.S. official told us. “It was surveying regional waters in support of ongoing operations. The defective drone was an older model that neither collected sensitive data nor carried any classified sonar or radar equipment. U.S. operations in area waters continue.”

The Dive-LD can be configured for demining operations. Cooper, the CENTCOM commander, recently stated that: “We have successfully cleared sea mines in the strait’s international shipping lanes that were laid months ago by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Internationally recognized transit routes in the strait are free of Iranian sea mines, thanks to the incredible work of the U.S. military.”

It is unclear whether the Dive-LD system was used in those operations; however Financial Times last week reported that the U.S. sent “Navy Seal divers, robot boats and specialized underwater craft into the perilous strait for a four-month mine-clearance mission.”

“The fraught process of explosive device disposal was carried out underwater and in darkness in an attempt to eliminate a crucial factor deterring ships from carrying vital cargoes through the strait since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February,” the publication added.

As the Houthi-Saudi exchanges continue and the Strait of Hormuz is still heavily contested, there appears to be no real movement toward a diplomatic solution.

U.S. President Donald Trump proclaimed that the U.S. will defeat Iran.

“Oil prices will drop precipitously, like everything else is dropping (but more!), when we WIN the war with Iran,” the president stated on his Truth Social site. “Three Dollars a gallon, but ultimately, below Two Dollars a gallon. It will all happen quickly, and Iran will never have a Nuclear Weapon.” MAGA!”

Iran, for its part, said it will continue fighting.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has always opposed war and has considered the preservation of the people’s interests and regional security to lie in refraining from igniting conflict,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeskian said on X. “However, just as it has boldly risen to defend against aggression up to this day, it will continue this resistance with full strength until the aggressors are brought to complete regret and will remain the guardian of the rights of the great Iranian nation.”

Should there be a resolution to this conflict, U.S. military and intelligence officials have had “recent quiet discussions about cutting the number of people and facilities typically stationed in Middle East,” CNN reported.

That’s it for now. We’ll update this story when new details emerge.

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