- The Yemeni Houthis, allies of Tehran, have claimed a missile and drone attack on the Saudi tankers Encelia and Layla in the Red Sea: the first strike since the announcement of a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Press Agency confirmed a fire at the bow of the Encelia, while the attack on the Layla remains without independent confirmation.
- The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Irgc reported that an explosion set fire to a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz as it attempted to take the southern route, prompting two other vessels to turn back. Tehran has declared the strait completely closed without coordination with its armed forces.
- The United States completed its twelfth consecutive night of raids against Iran as Brent neared $98 a barrel, its highest level in six weeks, after rising by more than 30% over the month. Analysts fear the simultaneous closure of the Middle East’s two main energy corridors.
Over the past 12 hours, the crisis around the Middle East’s two strategic straits - Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb - has worsened: on Thursday, 23 July 2026, the Yemeni Houthis claimed a drone and missile attack on two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, while Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Irgc, reported a new explosion in the Strait of Hormuz. The two incidents came as the United States completed its twelfth consecutive night of raids on Iranian military targets, as part of the conflict between Washington and Tehran that has been under way since late February.
According to Al Jazeera and Reuters, the Houthis struck the tankers Encelia and Layla, accusing them of breaching the naval blockade against Saudi Arabia announced by the group on 20 July in response to the Saudi blockade of Houthi-controlled ports and airports and a raid on Sanaa airport. The Saudi state news agency confirmed that the Encelia was hit while transiting the Red Sea, with a fire breaking out at the bow and no casualties among the crew. No official Saudi confirmation has been issued for the Layla, a 317,821 dwt VLCC owned by Bahri, whose AIS signal had reportedly been switched off for several days before the claimed attack. Tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show that the Encelia, a 109,250 dwt Saudi product tanker built in 2003, began signalling a condition of being unable to manoeuvre after the strike, indicating possible damage to its propulsion or steering. A further report came from UKMTO, according to which a vessel — probably the same Encelia — was hit by an unidentified projectile around 130 kilometres south-west of Al Shuqaiq, in Saudi Arabia, causing a fire that was later contained by the crew.
On the opposite front, the Irgc claims that an explosion set fire to a tanker attempting to cross, off the coast of Oman, a stretch of sea that Tehran considers mined south of the Strait of Hormuz, while two other vessels in transit reportedly turned back quickly after the explosion. It is the third attack in a few hours, and the Pasdaran attributed it to an alleged US order and declared that the Strait of Hormuz would remain “completely closed” for the entire duration of US military operations, with no possibility of entry or exit for tankers that do not coordinate their passage with Iran’s armed forces. The incident followed another US attack two days earlier on Iran’s Larak Island, also in the strait, on Tuesday, 21 July, during the eleventh night of raids.
The opening of a second front in the Red Sea therefore adds to the blockade already in place at Hormuz, hitting one of the alternative routes on which Saudi Arabia has relied to export crude since flows from the Persian Gulf were reduced to a trickle. Brent approached $98 a barrel during trading in London, after closing at its highest level in six weeks in the previous session, while WTI (West Texas Intermediate) traded at around $90.7, up by more than 4%. Crude prices have risen by more than 30% over the month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Daniel Hynes, commodities analyst at Anz Group Holdings, described the attack in the Red Sea as “a serious escalation”, which would further intensify pressure on the crude market if the route were disrupted. Priyanka Sachdeva, analyst at Phillip Nova, offered a different reading: whether the rally holds, she explained, will depend on whether the attack remains an isolated incident or triggers prolonged disruption to the supply chain. Bob McNally, head of consultancy Rapidan Energy Group, does not rule out a further rise in prices if the conflict around Hormuz becomes firmly extended to the Red Sea.
For shipping companies, the practical consequences mainly concern insurance premiums and risk management on routes in the southern Red Sea: war-risk premiums for transits in the area have already risen from around 0.3% to 0.75% of the vessel’s value after the attack on the Encelia, an insurance broker told Seatrade Maritime News. Stricter checks are expected on cargo origin, recent calls at Saudi ports, vessel ownership and management, as well as longer waiting times and diversions, with particular attention on the port of Yanbu. Around 12% of global trade passes through Bab al-Mandeb, the mandatory transit point between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden towards the Suez Canal, including a quarter of container traffic between Europe and Asia. A new closure would revive the scenarios already seen between 2023 and 2025, when Houthi attacks linked to the Gaza war pushed many companies to divert routes around the Cape of Good Hope, before the truce announced in October 2025.
In the Red Sea area, the European Union naval mission in the Red Sea, Operation Aspides, raised the alert level for the northern Red Sea from low to medium on 23 July, extending the same assessment to the entire Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden. The decision came immediately after the announcement of the Houthi maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia, which Aspides described as a “significant escalation” of the group’s campaign of naval coercion. A subsequent clarification issued by the Humanitarian Operations Coordination Centre, Hocc, of the Houthis stated that the ban applies to all vessels loading or unloading goods at Saudi ports, regardless of the vessel’s ownership, nationality or flag: the embargo is therefore based on the commercial activity carried out, not on the identity of the vessel.
Aspides recommends that merchant vessels linked to Israeli, US or Saudi interests avoid transiting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden until the alert level is lowered, recalling that past Houthi attacks have involved anti-ship missiles, drones, unmanned surface vessels and assaults by small boats. Vessels that must still cross the area are advised to maintain a high level of vigilance and coordinate with the Maritime Security Centre Indian Ocean (Mscio). The mission said it had strengthened protection measures without a corresponding increase in available military assets: vessels requesting close escort may therefore face longer waiting times.
On the diplomatic front, there are no signs of imminent easing. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asked about the attack on the tankers, said he hoped the Houthis “will stop”, adding that the group had been “fooled by the Iranians” into an action it would have been better off staying out of. President Donald Trump has meanwhile threatened to strike Iranian bridges and power plants and reiterated the possibility of an attack on the suspected Iranian nuclear site known by the codename “Pickaxe Mountain”. A statement circulated only by the Iranian state agency Tasnim, and not confirmed by independent sources, should be treated with caution: it said Tehran would not allow “a single drop of oil” to pass through Hormuz in the event of further US action.
M.L.
