US says it disabled tanker amid Red Sea attacks by Houthis

The United States military said it disabled a merchant vessel trying to evade its blockade of Iranian ports as Yemen’s Houthis claimed attacks on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, pulling two of the world’s most sensitive shipping lanes into the same escalation cycle.

UK Maritime Trade Operations said it received a report on July 22 of an incident about 70 nautical miles southwest of Al Shuqaiq, Saudi Arabia, where a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile that caused a fire onboard. The crew was fighting the blaze, and UKMTO said there were no reported casualties and no environmental impact. Reuters identified the Saudi-flagged tanker Encelia as the vessel hit, while the Houthis named a second tanker, Layla, that maritime security sources had not confirmed.

The Houthis said they had used missiles and drones and that they were enforcing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia they announced on July 20. Reuters reported that two Saudi crude tankers reversed course in the Red Sea amid the threats, and the Houthis said about 10 ships turned back after warnings. That pattern matters because even a limited exchange can quickly alter routing decisions, push more traffic away from the Red Sea, and add pressure to energy shipments moving toward Europe and Asia.

BBC reported that the Houthis said they had closed the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the narrow passage that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. If shipping companies treat that corridor and the Strait of Hormuz as active danger zones at the same time, the consequences reach far beyond one tanker: global oil flows become harder to predict, marine insurers tend to demand higher risk premiums, and military escorts or intercepts become more likely to draw in outside powers.

The timing sharpened those risks. The attack came as the United States military completed its 12th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, and Iranian state media reported two deaths in those strikes. That overlap leaves more room for miscalculation involving Iran and its allies, especially if a Houthi strike at sea, a U.S. interdiction near Iranian waters, or a retaliatory response in either chokepoint lands on the wrong vessel.