Saudi Arabia has shut down a major pipeline a day after it was attacked by Iraqi drones on Thursday.

The East-West pipeline – which carries around 5 percent of global oil supply – was closed as a ‘precautionary measure’, the Saudi Ministry of Energy said.

In a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom said it would not respond to give the Iraqi government ‘an opportunity to take the necessary measures.’

Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who is also commander-in-chief of the military, ordered an investigation into the Maysan province operations command and dismissed its commander after authorities determined that attacks targeting Saudi Arabia were launched from a site in the province, government spokesperson Sabah al-Numan said in a statement early Saturday.

Saudi Arabia and the United States bombed Iranian-backed militias in Iraq in July, after blaming them for drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities that had been claimed by the Houthis. 

Regional officials told The Associated Press that the Houthis helped the Iraqi militias plan and execute the attacks.

Built in the 1980s, the East-West pipeline has played an important role in Saudi Arabia’s ability to export oil following the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war. 

By early June, Saudi Arabia had more than doubled oil exports from the Red Sea port at the pipeline’s end to more than five million barrels per day, according to the International Energy Agency.

A satellite image shows black smoke rising from an area of Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline south of Medina, Hejaz Region, Saudi Arabia September 10, 2026

The closure of the pipeline came just hours after Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi Rebels captured the strategic island of Mayun at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, opening a new front in the Iran war. 

The capture of the tiny island was confirmed by a senior military official with Yemen’s internationally recognized government and by a Houthi official.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has increasingly relied on the Red Sea to get its crude to market as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been striking ships. 

Houthi efforts to close the 17-mile Bab el-Mandeb channel have made that route more complicated. 

In a statement Friday, the Houthi armed forces boasted of gains along the coast without mentioning the island, Mokha or the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. 

They vowed ‘escalation for escalation’ in the confrontation with Saudi Arabia, while declaring that ‘maritime navigation is safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels.’

Still, markets are nervous, and experts have described the Houthis as highly unpredictable. 

Crude prices this week soared again above $100 a barrel, giving Tehran more leverage in any talks.

File image: Yemen’s Houthi rebels march during a mobilization campaign in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026

The Bab al-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and is used as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively shut down

The Houthis have been attacking Saudi shipping on the Red Sea since declaring a blockade in July, as well as hitting oil infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia. 

The rebels said they acted in response to the kingdom’s yearslong blockade of Houthi-held parts of Yemen.

Saudi Arabia struck the airport in the port city of Mokha after the Houthis seized it Thursday, a Houthi broadcaster said. There were no reports of damage or deaths.

A senior military official with Yemen’s internationally recognized government told the AP they were stunned that the Saudi air force did not try to prevent the capture of Mokha, about 50 miles from the strait.

 He assessed that Saudi Arabia didn’t get a green light from the U.S. to embark on a large-scale air campaign.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t allowed to speak to the media, also blamed ‘lack of coordination’ between Yemen’s army and multiple allied militias, saying it gave the Houthis ‘a priceless opportunity.’

Shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait had fallen by about 60% since the Houthis began attacking some ships there in late 2023 and expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. 

Shipping increased this year as Saudi Arabia sought alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz, but renewed Houthi threats have ‘curtailed’ that activity, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

That has forced Saudi Arabia to find yet another alternative, sending its oil north out of the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, either via the Suez Canal or a pipeline through Egypt, a far longer route for its clients in Asia. 

The Houthis have threatened that route as well, striking a Saudi vessel in the north of the Red Sea in late August.