Pipeline shutdown and Houthi seizure of Perim Island leave kingdom without a safe path for crude
Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline, the kingdom's only crude export route bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, was shut down Friday after drone strikes hit pumping stations near Al Mesba'ah and Al Dhekra, the Saudi Ministry of Energy confirmed. In the same 48-hour window, Iran-backed Houthi forces completed their seizure of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait's inner waterway, capturing Perim Island a day after taking the Red Sea port of Mocha.
The convergence matters because the pipeline was built as insurance against exactly the kind of Hormuz disruption Iran has sustained since February, moving crude to the Red Sea terminal at Yanbu. That route now runs into waters the Houthis control. Riyadh's Foreign Ministry called the pipeline strike a "dangerous escalation" and confirmed injuries and damage, while drones launched from Iraqi territory struck the line for the second time in five months.
Three fronts, one shutdown
Hormuz tanker traffic has fallen from roughly 130 vessels a day before the war to between seven and 19 in September, according to shipping data cited by Riyadh. Bab el-Mandeb, the pipeline's own outlet, is now under a force whose spokesman Yahya Saree declared "maritime navigation is safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels" — a claim following the capture of Perim Island that completed a takeover beginning with the fall of Mocha on Thursday.
Brent crude reached $104.44 a barrel Friday, its highest since May, after Saudi crude production had already slipped to roughly 6 million barrels a day in August — the lowest in more than three decades, per IEA data. No group has claimed the pipeline attack, though President Trump said Saturday Iran was "probably responsible." Reuters has reported Tehran told the Houthis last week to escalate, promising funding, weapons and senior IRGC officers, with Washington estimating hundreds of IRGC personnel now embedded in Yemen.
Observers are reading: Why Monday's Oman talks may reveal whether Iran intends to trade chokepoint leverage for negotiating room.
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No secure route remains
Saudi Arabia can reroute limited volumes through Yanbu to the Suez Canal or the SUMED pipeline toward the Mediterranean, but transit times to Asia more than double and capacity falls well short of the pipeline's lost flow. The UN's IOM says at least 46,000 people have been displaced in Yemen this week alone, with the Houthi offensive linked to more than 500 deaths on both sides. For the first time since the war began, the kingdom that anchors global spare capacity has no export corridor it fully controls.
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