Houthis Escalate Blockade with Attacks on Two Saudi Oil Tankers

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, escalating their maritime blockade of the kingdom.

In a video statement, Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, said that the group successfully targeted the Saudi oil tanker Wafa with ballistic missiles off the coast of Yanbu. He also stated that they hit the Saudi oil tanker Daisy in the Gulf of Aden with another missile.

This is the eighth and ninth Saudi oil tankers targeted since the start of the blockade last month, according to Saree's figures. The Houthis have declared they will escalate attacks in the northern Red Sea because Saudi Arabia is diverting its oil tankers there from the south in response to their blockade.

The blockade has threatened top oil exporter Saudi Arabia's ability to get its supplies to the world following Iran's parallel blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off the kingdom's only other maritime route. Saudi seaborne crude exports via the Bab al-Mandeb strait surged eightfold between March and mid-July 2026 compared with the same period in 2025.