Attack from Iraqi soil on Saudi Arabia’s strategic pipeline; Houthis reach Bab al-Mandab

🔸After a drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s strategic east-to-west pipeline, Saudi Arabia temporarily suspended operations on this oil transfer route. At the same time, Yemen government sources say the Houthis, by taking control of the strategic island of Perim in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, have expanded their control over shipping in the Red Sea.

🔸Reuters reported on Saturday, 21 Shahrivar, that Baghdad and Riyadh have declared the origin of the attack on the Saudi pipeline as Iraqi territory. The office of the Iraqi prime minister also removed the commander of the Maysan province’s military operations in the country’s southeastern region in connection with this attack.

🔸The Maysan province borders Iran and is considered among the areas where Iranian-backed Shiite militias have influence and operate. However, no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

🔸The 1,200-kilometer east-to-west pipeline transports oil from eastern Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea coasts, and in recent months it has moved between four and five million barrels of oil per day—equivalent to four to five percent of global supply—through it.

🔸Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy said it has shut this pipeline off after several attacks in the Riyadh and Medina regions, as a precautionary measure. Satellite images show black smoke rising from part of the pipeline in the south of Medina. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also reported that a number of people were injured and that damage occurred, but it has not released details about the attack’s impact on oil exports.

🔸The pipeline had become even more important at a time when the war between the United States and Iran has sharply reduced the movement of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. Simultaneous disruption on both sides of the Arabian Peninsula has again pushed the global oil price above $100 per barrel.

🔸Saudi Arabia, after the Iraqi prime minister’s request, has so far refrained from retaliatory action, but has emphasized that it considers its right to take “all necessary measures” to protect its interests to be preserved. The Iraqi government has also condemned the attack and has closed the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran as a precaution.

🔸Read the full report on the Radio Farda website.