{"id":434259,"date":"2026-07-22T05:22:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T22:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/oil-icymi-houthi-blockade-threat-forces-saudi-crude-tankers-to-turn-back-434259\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T05:22:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T22:22:53","slug":"oil-icymi-houthi-blockade-threat-forces-saudi-crude-tankers-to-turn-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/oil-icymi-houthi-blockade-threat-forces-saudi-crude-tankers-to-turn-back-434259\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil ICYMI &#8211; Houthi blockade threat forces Saudi crude tankers to turn back"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\" dir=\"ltr\">The Houthi blockade threat strikes directly at the Red Sea route that has been absorbing Saudi crude diverted from the closed Strait of Hormuz, leaving Riyadh with a rapidly narrowing set of export options. Confirmed tanker reversals, rather than just verbal threats, mark a shift from risk pricing to actual physical disruption, which markets are likely to treat as a stronger signal than rhetoric alone. Gasoline back above $4 a gallon points to the conflict&#8217;s inflationary spillover reaching consumers directly, adding a political dimension to the energy story. With both major Gulf chokepoints now under simultaneous pressure, further upside risk to freight rates and insurance costs looks likely even before any additional escalation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\" dir=\"ltr\">&#8212;<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\" dir=\"ltr\">\nSaudi Arabia&#8217;s last open export route just came under direct threat, and tankers are already turning back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\" dir=\"ltr\">Earlier:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/commodities\/goldman-sees-brent-near-war-era-120-peak-if-hormuz-disruption-persists-more-detail\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"follow\">Goldman sees Brent near war-era $120 peak if Hormuz disruption persists &#8211; more detail<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\" dir=\"ltr\">Summary:<\/p>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\" class=\"[li_&amp;]:mb-0 [li_&amp;]:mt-1 [li_&amp;]:gap-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3\">\n<li class=\"font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\">Two tankers carrying Saudi crude to China and India reversed course in the Red Sea after Houthi threats, making U-turns toward the Suez Canal.<\/li>\n<li class=\"font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\">US forces struck targets in Iran overnight, while Iran hit US sites in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, with a tanker also struck in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/li>\n<li class=\"font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\">The Houthis announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on Monday, opening a new front in the conflict, and threatened to attack any vessel loading or discharging Saudi oil.<\/li>\n<li class=\"font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\">Trump confirmed 18 US service members have been killed in the conflict so far, including four in Iranian strikes on bases in Jordan and Iraq.<\/li>\n<li class=\"font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\">Iran claimed a strike on Amazon infrastructure in Bahrain, though this could not be independently verified.<\/li>\n<li class=\"font-claude-response-body whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/commodities\/recap-oil-climbs-to-five-week-high-as-iran-conflict-and-houthi-blockade-threat-widen\" rel=\"follow\">Oil prices rose more than 2% on Tuesday<\/a>, with Brent above $91 a barrel and US gasoline back over $4 a gallon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\" dir=\"ltr\">\nTwo oil tankers carrying Saudi crude to Asia reversed course in the Red Sea on Tuesday after threats from Yemen&#8217;s Iran aligned Houthis, according to a Reuters report, as a widening Middle East conflict disrupted shipping through two of the world&#8217;s most critical energy chokepoints.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\" dir=\"ltr\">US forces bombed targets in the south and west of Iran overnight, while Iran targeted US sites in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, and a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, Reuters said. Iran said it had struck infrastructure belonging to Amazon in Bahrain, where the US tech company operates a regional data centre, though Amazon did not immediately comment and the report could not be independently verified.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\" dir=\"ltr\">The Houthis, who control northern and western Yemen including the coast at the mouth of the Red Sea, announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on Monday, opening a potential new front in a war that has killed thousands of people across the Gulf since it began on 28 February with US and Israeli attacks on Iran. In a letter to shippers, the group threatened to attack any vessels loading or discharging Saudi oil.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\" dir=\"ltr\">US President Donald Trump said the Houthis had not yet shut the Bab el Mandeb, the strait leading into the Red Sea, but warned Washington would act if that changed. He also confirmed that 18 US service members have been killed so far in the conflict, including four in Iranian attacks on US military bases in Jordan and Iraq over the past few days, in a war described as unpopular among Americans and others affected by surging global energy costs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\" dir=\"ltr\">The Houthi announcement already appeared to be having an impact on the ground. Two tankers that had just loaded Saudi crude bound for China and India at the Red Sea port of Yanbu made U turns on Tuesday, heading toward the Suez Canal rather than out through the Bab el Mandeb into the Indian Ocean. British maritime risk group Vanguard said the developments marked the first confirmed changes to commercial tanker routing following the blockade announcement, and were likely to increase disruption to Saudi crude exports and regional shipping patterns more broadly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\" dir=\"ltr\">With the war having already shut the Strait of Hormuz leading out of the Gulf, the Red Sea has served as the main alternate route for millions of barrels of Saudi oil a day, diverted by pipeline through Yanbu. That route now also faces a direct threat, leaving Saudi Arabia with a shrinking set of options to keep crude flowing to its largest customers in Asia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\" dir=\"ltr\">Oil prices gained more than 2 percent on Tuesday, with Brent crude hovering above 91 dollars a barrel and US gasoline back above 4 dollars a gallon, as markets priced in the growing risk that both Gulf chokepoints could remain compromised for an extended period.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>                            This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Houthi blockade threat strikes directly at the Red Sea route that has been absorbing Saudi crude diverted from the closed Strait of Hormuz, leaving Riyadh with a rapidly narrowing set of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-434259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}