Houthis Force Saudi Oil Tankers To U Turn In Red Sea

Crude oil is holding near multi week highs even as fresh reports show Houthi threats force Saudi tankers into abrupt U turns in the Red Sea, a sign that Gulf shipping lanes remain under strain. The United States Oil Fund (USO) traded at 134.64 dollars, up a modest 0.07% on the day, but that calm belies a market that has spent the past ten days absorbing tanker strikes, blocked chokepoints and dueling military escalation between the US and Iran.

Key Takeaways

• Two tankers hauling Saudi crude toward China and India reversed course in the Red Sea after Houthi militants threatened Saudi port cargo.
• USO sits at 134.64 dollars, near the top of its 52 week range of 102.42 to 142.33, with an RSI of 61.18 pointing to firm but not overheated buying pressure.
• Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed to a near standstill, with Bloomberg data showing only six vessels transiting on a recent Tuesday morning.
• Goldman Sachs commodity analyst Daan Struyven has flagged a possible run to 120 dollars a barrel if the conflict fails to cool down.
• US pump prices have pushed back above 4 dollars a gallon for regular gasoline, a threshold that tends to draw political attention in Washington.

How Houthi Threats Force Saudi Tankers Off Course

The immediate trigger for the latest jump in shipping risk was a blockade notice the Houthi militia sent directly to shipping companies, warning them against loading or unloading cargo at Saudi ports. Two tankers carrying Saudi crude bound for Chinese and Indian buyers took the warning seriously enough to turn back in the Red Sea and reroute toward the Suez Canal instead. That kind of reversal, mid voyage, is not a small logistical shrug. It adds days to delivery schedules, raises insurance costs and forces refiners on the receiving end to recalculate their supply timing.

The Red Sea disruption is layered on top of an already stressed Strait of Hormuz, the world's busiest oil corridor. Bloomberg tracking showed visible traffic through Hormuz falling to just six vessels in a single morning, though that figure likely understates the real slowdown since some ships are switching off transponders to avoid becoming targets. An oil supertanker named the Acheloos and a smaller fuel tanker were both hit over the weekend according to their manager, Dynacom Tankers Management. A separate strike on an unidentified vessel near Oman's Limah was also reported by UK Maritime Trade Operations.

Iran's Widening Strikes Across the Gulf

Iran's Revolutionary Guard has claimed responsibility for a string of attacks well beyond the strait itself. The IRGC said its Aerospace Force used cruise missiles to destroy a central data infrastructure hub belonging to Amazon in Bahrain, and also targeted US air defense systems and radar installations in the Bahraini areas of Muharraq and Riffa. Neither Bahraini officials, US officials nor Amazon had responded publicly as of the reports. Kuwait, meanwhile, reported a second consecutive day of strikes on its power generation and water desalination plants, with fires breaking out and emergency crews working to restore damaged units. Jordan has also come under renewed fire.

The conflict has now stretched into its tenth day of tit for tat escalation. US Central Command has struck Iranian command centers, missile and drone launch sites, and air defense installations, describing the campaign as an effort to degrade the capabilities Iran uses to threaten commercial shipping. President Trump has vowed that Iran will pay

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