Saudi East-West Pipeline Reported Struck Again as Houthis Advance in Yemen

Saudi Arabia's East-West Crude Oil Pipeline was hit again on Sunday, according to a source in the kingdom's energy sector who spoke to AFP. The source said a pumping station east of Riyadh in Khurais — a site not previously targeted — sustained major damage and that flows through the line had halted. Reuters and Bloomberg, however, both reported Monday that oil was still moving through the pipeline, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

The reported strike followed a claim by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis that they had hit Aramco sites in Saudi Arabia, including infrastructure at Khurais. The roughly 700-mile pipeline, which links Saudi oil fields in the east to the Yanbu terminal on the Red Sea, has been attacked repeatedly since war spread across the Middle East after the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran in late February. Saudi Arabia shut the pipeline from Sept. 11 to 22, according to the commodity-tracking firm Kpler.

In Yemen, the military announced more than 1,000 strikes against Houthi artillery, rocket launchers, fortifications, supply lines and logistics assets on Monday, hours after the Saudi-backed government declared a campaign to retake all rebel-held territory. A military spokesman later said government forces had regained control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping choke point, though Houthi-aligned media denied any territory had been recaptured, according to Reuters. The strikes appeared to do little to slow the Houthis, who encircled Taiz on Sunday by cutting its main supply route to Aden; fighting around Taiz killed more than 70 people in a single day, sources from both sides told AFP, after 80 combatants were reported killed Friday.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Sunday that there would be no military solution to the U.S. war against his country, with negotiations apparently stalled. He warned that any renewed confrontation would draw a stronger response and said only talks based on justice and fairness could end the conflict. The main sticking point remains Iran's attempt to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, where a U.K. maritime agency reported Sunday that another tanker had been struck by an unknown projectile. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding in June outlining a framework for a permanent resolution, but Iranian attacks on vessels prompted the U.S. to resume military operations, and Washington has since imposed a counterblockade on Iranian ports.

Despite the attacks, Middle East oil exports excluding Iran climbed above pre-war levels last week, according to Kpler. The weekly average of shipments rose for several days above the pre-conflict average of 18 million barrels per day, and crude exports reached pre-war levels in September with at least 16.5 million barrels leaving the region excluding Iran. Kpler said 40% of oil now bypasses Hormuz, with most of it moving through Saudi and Emirati pipelines.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that President Trump was well aware of the risks to energy flows before launching the war but believed the world cannot sustain a nuclear-armed Iran. Speaking on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan, Wright predicted gasoline prices would fall, pointing to rising supplies through Hormuz and slowing summer demand. Trump has rejected Tehran's proposed conditions for reopening the strait while leaving open the possibility of further talks or renewed military action; Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told the state news agency IRNA that the U.S. response was being reviewed and that Iran was preparing for any scenario.