Houthis say 2 Saudi oil tankers attacked in Red Sea

Houthi rebels in Yemen said Thursday they struck a pair of Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea, the first known attack since the group announced a blockade of Saudi ships attempting to go through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait earlier this week. 

The Houthis said they hit the two tankers, named Encelia and Layla, using ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones, according to its SABA News Agency. The Iranian-backed militant group also noted it forced approximately 10 ships to retreat and return. 

“The Armed Forces will continue their naval operations against the Saudi enemy and will persist in enforcing the ‘A siege for a siege’ equation,” they added. “We affirm to the Saudi enemy that any folly or aggression targeting our country will be met with large-scale operations deep within its territory, and the consequences will be dire for it, by Allah’s will and power.”

The Houthis on Monday announced the embargo on Saudi ships “based on the equation of ‘an eye for an eye,’ effective immediately.”

President Trump said Thursday the U.S. will “hold Iran responsible” if the Houthis carry out future attacks on Saudi ships. The Islamic Republic is the rebel group’s primary benefactor, providing them with weapons, training and intelligence support, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

“Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

In 2023, roughly 8.7 million barrels of oil per day passed through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a choke point at the southern mouth of the Red Sea, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That accounted for roughly 8 percent of the world’s oil that year.

After the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attacks, oil prices rose early Thursday. The per-barrel price of Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, is more than $98. Crude oil prices have increased across the last two-plus weeks, as the U.S. and Iran have resumed strikes over the Islamic Republic’s continued restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Houthis imposed the blockade after it blamed Saudi Arabia for a strike against Sanaa International Airport in Yemen’s north, which the rebel group controls. The internationally recognized and Saudi-backed Yemeni government in the south claimed responsibility for the strike.

Before the tankers were hit, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the Trump administration is “watching” the situation in the Red Sea “closely.”

“They’ve threatened global shipping there in the past,” Rubio told reporters in the Philippines, referring to the Houthis. “And again, anything that restricts shipping through the Red Sea would be problematic, for the same reasons that the Strait of Hormuz is problematic.”

He added, “We’ve been engaging the Saudis … a number of times over the last week in regards to that threat. It’s not a new threat, but … it’s one that’s manifested itself in the past.”

President Trump on Tuesday also said the U.S. “will take care of things” if the Houthis carry out the embargo. Trump authorized strikes against the rebel group last year in response to its attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. 

Updated at 9:09 a.m. EDT

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.