Red Sea News

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Wednesday they had launched a missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker off the coast of the kingdom's Red Sea port city of Yanbu.Saudi officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The Houthis' military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, did not say when the attack took place.(Reuters - Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Tala Ramadan; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Two tankers laden with Saudi oil crossed the Bab el-Mandeb strait over the weekend, while traffic in the Strait of Hormuz slowed following reports of vessel attacks, shipping data showed on Monday.The number of commodity vessels that passed through the Bab el-Mandeb strait fell to 18 on Sunday, from 27 on Saturday and 28 on Friday, the Kpler data showed.The Iran-aligned Houthis declared a maritime embargo against Saudi ‌Arabia on July 20, opening a new front against the U.S. and…

Yemen's Houthi Movement aims to replicate Iran's Hormuz Strait strategy in the Red Sea by disrupting shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb and has been emboldened by an insufficient international response, Yemen's top diplomat said on Monday."The Houthis want to copy the Iranian model and this will shut down two main straits, the gateways into the Gulf and Red Sea," Yemeni Foreign Minister-designate Afrah Al-Zouba said, speaking to a small group of journalists at the Yemeni embassy in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.The Red Sea has become a new front in the Iran war, with the Houthis taking an escalatory ap

Ship traffic through Bab el-Mandeb fell on Sunday after Yemeni Houthis attacked Saudi oil installations along the Red Sea coast, while transit through the Strait of Hormuz stayed low over the weekend, shipping data from Kpler showed on Monday.Eleven commodity vessels passed through the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Sunday, the lowest level in months, the data showed.Red Sea traffic has been disrupted off the coast of Yemen since last week by the Tehran-aligned Houthis, who want to blockade Saudi exports…

Two Chinese supertankers carrying a combined 4 million barrels of Saudi Arabian oil exited the Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Thursday, shipping data showed, apparently escaping a blockade on shipments of Saudi oil by Yemen's Houthi militias even as other Saudi vessels came under attack.The Red Sea blockade by the Iran-aligned Houthis is worsening global energy supply disruption, coming at the same time the key Strait of Hormuz has practically shut due to the resumption of fighting between the U.S.

Saudi Aramco has offered additional crude cargoes for loading from Egypt's Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir, according to five trading sources, as Houthi threats to Saudi shipping raise risks for southbound Red Sea exports through the Bab el-Mandeb strait.The cargoes, which are shipped to Egypt's Red Sea port of Ain Sukhna and then carried by the Suez-Mediterranean Pipeline to Sidi Kerir, are being offered on a spot basis, two of the sources said, supplementing supplies to Aramco's term buyers.While Aramco already supplies some customers in Europe and North America from Sidi Kerir…

Two Chinese supertankers carrying a combined 4 million barrels of Saudi Arabian oil are exiting the Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Thursday, shipping data showed, even as a Saudi vessel came under attack in the region.The ships' attempt to transit the strait will clearly test how tightly the Houthis will impose the naval blockade on Saudi Arabia they announced on Monday. The group said they attacked two Saudi tankers with drones and missiles earlier on Thursday.The Red…

The Iranian-aligned Houthis said on Thursday they struck two Saudi oil tankers as part of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, threatening to create a second chokepoint on global oil supplies alongside Iran's near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz.Meanwhile the U.S. military completed a new round of strikes on Iran at President Donald Trump's direction, marking a 12th successive night of American attacks and prompting further Iranian retaliation.Iran said it attacked U.S. missile systems, weapons and fuel storages in Jordan, as well as U.S.

Four tankers changed course in the Red Sea on Wednesday, with two signalling the Suez Canal as their new destination after Yemen's Houthi militia warned ships to avoid sailing to Saudi Arabian ports, ship-tracking data showed.The Iran-aligned Houthis on Monday declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia, opening a potential new front against the United States in its war with Iran and raising the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf."The threat of Houthi hostile actions against Saudi Arabia ...

Oil prices rose to near six-week highs on Wednesday on mounting concerns about disruptions to key Middle Eastern supply routes because of escalating hostilities between the U.S. and Iran and threats to shipping by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen.Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose $2.84, or 3.12%, to $93.85 a barrel at 0833 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 climbed $2.93, or 3.47%, to $87.27. Both benchmarks touched their highest levels since June 11.The U.S. military said late on Tuesday, early Wednesday in Iran, that it carried out an 11th consecutive night of attacks. The U.S.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to close "all other export corridors that benefit the U.S. and its allies", Iranian media reported, after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. reimposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports."Regional energy exports are either shared by all, or denied to all," the IRGC said in a statement carried by Iran's IRNA state news agency on Wednesday.Analysts have said Iran has been signalling it may use its Houthi allies in Yemen to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea…

Gulf countries' dependence on oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz could be significantly reduced by a pipeline linking the Gulf to Europe via Israel, Israel's energy minister said, allowing them also to bypass Red Sea shipping disruptions.Oil prices surged after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28 and Tehran effectively closed the strait. Prices have dropped since a U.S.-Iran ceasefire but fears remain that renewed tensions could close the waterway."The…

Germany is deploying two ships to the Red Sea in preparation for a possible military mission in the Strait of Hormuz, Germany's defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said on Thursday.Hours after U.S.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday that they would ban Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea, adding to challenges for global shipping through the Middle East during the Iran war.The group said in a statement it had launched an attack on Israel and enacted a total ban on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea, warning of further escalation.Any Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping would worry energy markets more than three months into Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz…

France on Wednesday deployed its carrier strike group to the Red Sea as part of planning for a potential mission to secure the Strait of Hormuz, urging Washington and Tehran to consider the proposal given the global economic impact of their competing blockades.Fresh exchanges of fire on Monday underscored the stakes as the U.S. and Iran struggle for control of the narrow waterway, a vital artery for global energy and trade, shaking a fragile four-week-old truce and reinforcing…

The United States is set to remove sanctions against Eritrea, according to an internal U.S. government document seen by Reuters, a decision analysts linked to the African state's strategic location on the Red Sea shipping route.The U.S. move is aimed at improving ties with Eritrea, which has a long Red Sea coastline opposite Saudi Arabia, while also sending a message to neighbouring Ethiopia not to go to war with its longtime Horn of Africa foe, analysts said.The war in Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz…

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement, whose attacks on the Red Sea caused international shipping and trade chaos during the Gaza war, stands ready to strike the key waterway again in solidarity with Tehran, one Houthi leader told Reuters, a move that would deepen a global oil and economic crisis brought on by the Middle East war.If the Houthis open a new front in the conflict, one obvious target would be the Bab al-Mandab Strait off the coast of Yemen, a key shipping chokepoint…

European powers said on Thursday they would work together to safeguard shipping in the Red Sea and send naval and other assets to protect Cyprus as the expanding U.S.–Iran war entered its sixth day.The conflict - which has widened beyond Gulf states to the Mediterranean, where a drone strike hit a British air base on Cypruson Monday, and as far afield as Asia - has convulsed global markets and sent oil and gas prices soaring.Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands will send naval assets to protect Cyprus in the coming days…

Shipping group Maersk will take steps to resume navigation through the Red Sea via the Suez Canal as soon as conditions allow, CEO Vincent Clerc said on Tuesday.The Suez Canal Authority said in a statement that Maersk container ships will resume transit via the canal on a partial basis from the beginning of December prior to a full return but a Maersk spokesperson said the company had not set a date.The potential return of Maersk to the Suez Canal could ripple through the shipping sector, where freight rates have been supported by the route being snarled by regional conflict and attacks on com

Shipping groups Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk will resume some transit routes through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal this month under their shared services network, Maersk said on Tuesday.Shipping companies are weighing a return to the critical Asia-Europe trade corridor after vessels were rerouted around Africa in late 2023 following attacks in the Red Sea, which Yemen's Houthis said were to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd's joint ME11 service, a route connecting India and the Middle East with the Mediterranean, will resume routing through the Red Sea and the Suez Ca

The Dutch-flagged cargo ship Minervagracht was ablaze and adrift in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday, a day after being hit by an explosive device, its operator and the EU maritime mission Aspides said.Yemen's Houthi militants claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the attack, saying it was carried out by a cruise missile.The strike injured two sailors and forced a helicopter evacuation of the ship's 19 crew members, according to the EU maritime mission Aspides and the vessel's operator.Amsterdam…

Danish shipping company Maersk said on Friday that one of its vessels had successfully navigated the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait for the first time in nearly two years, as shipping companies weigh returning to the critical Asia-Europe trade corridor.The company stated that while it had no firm plans to fully reopen the route, it would take a "stepwise approach towards gradually resuming navigation" via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. Maersk declined to further elaborate on its plans.Maersk and rivals…

CMA CGM has announced its FAL1, FAL3 and MEX services connecting Asia and Europe, which recently began transiting Suez Canal again on backhaul voyages, will return to sailing around the Cape of Good Hope.CMA CGM cited the "the complex and uncertain international context” in reversing its decision to return to the Red Sea.“Shippers crave predictability in supply chains. Carriers taking the decision to return to the Red Sea then reversing that decision - even if it is done for important safety reasons - still risks undermining confidence in schedule reliability and eroding trust in partnerships…