Pipeline Shut Down After Multiple Attacks
According to the Ministry of Energy, the East-West Pipeline has been taken offline after being targeted in several strikes on the morning of Thursday, September 10, 2026. The Saudi Press Agency carried a statement from an official source saying the attacks occurred in the Riyadh and Medina regions. The shutdown was characterized as a precaution, and officials did not indicate when operations might resume. Images circulating on social media that day showed thick black smoke, along with assertions that the pipeline had been hit at multiple points.[S1]
No party was named by Saudi Arabia as the perpetrator of the pipeline strikes. Earlier on Thursday, CNN said the pipeline had been targeted by drones launched from Iraq. Iraq's Shia militias and Yemen's Houthis both back Iran and have worked together previously; the Houthis are thought to provide advisers to Iraq, while Iraqi militias reportedly supply technicians to the Houthis.[S1]
Houthi Offensive Reaches Bab el-Mandeb
The pipeline strike unfolded alongside a rapid Houthi advance down the Red Sea that carried their forces as far as the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint. Those gains left the group positioned to dictate shipping traffic. Where the Houthis once relied on drones and missiles against vessels, they can now employ conventional artillery. The group claims to be enforcing an embargo on Saudi oil exports, and diplomats believe it wants to levy a fee on the waterway similar to what Iran has sought to do at the Strait of Hormuz.[S1]
A Bypass Built for an Earlier War
Saudi Arabia constructed the East-West Pipeline during the 1980s to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran-Iraq war. It stretches from the kingdom's Gulf coast oil fields to Yanbu, a port on the Red Sea. Through this line, Saudi Arabia was able to ship roughly one-third of the oil volume it moved before the war, while other Gulf producers such as Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain have been blocked from exporting crude. The UAE has kept exporting by using vessels with disabled trackers and a modest pipeline that ends beyond the Strait of Hormuz.[S1]
Oil Prices Surge as Talks Falter
Crude prices climbed past $100 a barrel this week as the Houthis tightened their hold on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Shutting the East-West Pipeline highlights how exposed any workaround for the Strait of Hormuz remains, and negotiations to halt the war have essentially fallen apart. The Financial Times said Gulf states are set to sit down with Iran next week, in talks arranged by Oman, to explore how shipping through the Strait of Hormuz could be restarted.[S1]
