Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia on Saturday, July 25, 2026, targeting Aramco facilities in Yanbu and Jizan. The attack follows Saudi-led coalition strikes on the Yemeni city of Hodeida and Houthi targeting of two Saudi oil tankers earlier in the week, escalating tensions over critical Red Sea shipping routes.
The escalation began early Saturday when Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesman, announced in a prerecorded statement that the group had targeted facilities belonging to Aramco, the world’s largest oil company. Saudi Arabia’s civil defense confirmed that alerts sounded multiple times in the Red Sea cities of Yanbu and Jizan, though the Kingdom has not provided further details regarding damage. Visual evidence from social media, verified by AFPTV, showed clouds of smoke rising after strikes on the Saudi Aramco refinery in Jizan.
The Battle for Hodeida and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait
The Houthi strikes are a direct retaliation for Saudi-led coalition operations in the strategic port city of Hodeida. Late Friday, Saudi forces struck the city’s port and the state-run telecommunications corporation. Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesman for the Houthi-run health ministry, reported that two people were injured in those strikes.
The Saudi-led coalition denied targeting the port itself. Instead, they claimed to have hit legitimate military targets
in Hodeida province that were linked to threats to commercial vessels in the Red Sea. This exchange of fire follows a week in which the Houthis targeted two Saudi oil tankers.
The stakes extend beyond city limits to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The rebels have threatened to close this strait to Saudi-linked shipping. The economic implications are significant: around 12% of global trade, including a quarter of all container traffic, passes through these narrows.
US-Iran Confrontation and the Strait of Hormuz
While the Red Sea burns, a parallel conflict is unfolding at the Strait of Hormuz. The United States and Iran are currently vying for control of this critical maritime route following a collapse of a tenuous ceasefire that had held since late February. The U.S. accused Iran of striking three ships in the strait and responded by hitting dozens of targets within Iran; Tehran retaliated by firing at U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states.
On Friday, the U.S. military fired on a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Oman that was attempting to breach a renewed blockade of Iranian ports. This volatility has prompted U.S. embassies to alert American nationals in the Middle East that departure options may become limited, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has advised residents of neighboring countries to avoid bases housing U.S. troops.
However, Saturday provided a brief, unexpected lull in direct U.S.-Iran strikes. For the first time in 13 consecutive nights of attacks, the U.S. Central Command did not announce new strikes on Iran.
Regional Casualties and Diplomatic Stasis
The broader regional conflict has resulted in significant loss of life.
Amidst this violence, Iran is publicly advocating for a non-military resolution in Yemen. In an interview published Saturday in a state-run newspaper, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called for diplomacy and dialogue
to resolve the conflict without military confrontations
.
This diplomatic plea contrasts with the reality on the ground. By targeting Aramco’s infrastructure and threatening the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Houthis are leveraging their position to exert pressure on the Saudi economy and global energy markets. The synergy between the Houthi actions in the Red Sea and the U.S.-Iran blockade in the Strait of Hormuz effectively places two of the world’s most critical oil transit points under extreme military stress.
The immediate future remains precarious. While the U.S. may have paused its nightly strikes on Iran, the Houthi-Saudi exchange is actively accelerating. The primary uncertainty is whether the Houthi threat to fully restrict Saudi-linked shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait will be enacted, potentially triggering a wider maritime blockade that would disrupt global supply chains beyond the immediate region.
