Shipping traffic slows in Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb after Houthis say they attacked Saudi tanker

Shipping traffic through the crucial Gulf maritime chokepoints of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb experienced a notable decline on Wednesday, according to shipping data released by Kpler. Only two vessels traversed the Strait of Hormuz, a Panama-flagged coal carrier entering the waterway and a Marshall Islands-flagged commodity vessel exiting, a sharp drop from eight vessels the previous day.

Typically, around 130 to 140 ships would navigate the strait before the conflict between the United States and Iran erupted on February 28, which prompted Iran to close it. In the Bab el-Mandeb, just one dry bulk carrier, a Bahamas-flagged commodity ship, managed to pass through, a significant decline from the 20 vessels that had traveled through the previous day.

The Houthis, a Yemen-based Iran-aligned group, claimed on Wednesday that they had launched missile attacks on two Saudi oil tankers, one in the Red Sea near Yanbu and the other in the Gulf of Aden. However, Saudi Arabia has not confirmed these incidents. Since last month, the Houthis have established a naval blockade in the Red Sea against Saudi Arabia in retaliation for what they claim is a Saudi siege on Yemen, a statement Riyadh firmly denies.