The Houthi rebels in Yemen have expanded their military campaign against Saudi Arabia, which could drive up gas prices even further than they already are.
Houthi ballistic missiles struck Saudi oil facilities on Monday, according to The Associated Press. The attacks compound the strain on Saudi oil that the Houthis have already imposed through their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, including Saudi oil tankers.
The Monday strikes attacked Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq oil processing facility in the East of the country, according to satellite imagery the AP analyzed. Saudi Aramco did not respond to a request for comment.
“The Houthi threat is extremely credible, as evidenced by the fact that Red Sea shipping has not returned even to 50% of its pre-November 19, 2023, level when the Houthis began their attacks on merchant vessels,” Ian Ralby, a maritime-law and security expert, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This new threat is perhaps even more credible, as they have developed a broader strategy for how to disrupt shipping with increased know-how from their own attacks, from the Black Sea situation, and from having watched their near neighbors and close allies in Iran.”
The Suez Canal, one of the world’s most active trade routes, is directly connected to the Red Sea.
Before the Houthis began attacking commercial vessels in late 2023, approximately 15% of global maritime trade and 30% of global container trade passed through the Suez Canal, according to the International Monetary Fund.
This week’s strikes on Saudi oil processing facilities are the second wave of Houthi attacks, which began on July 22 when two Saudi oil tankers were attacked. On July 23, Brent crude jumped 7% to $100.69 per barrel, Reuters reported.
As of this writing, the price of Brent crude is back down to $86.55; however, some experts have speculated that the price may be artificially kept low through market manipulation.
Analysts speculated that the Houthi attacks could further drive up gas prices, which are already high from the Iran War. The national average price for regular gasoline climbed more than 37% between the beginning of the U.S.-Iran war and the renewed Houthi campaign, rising from $2.98 per gallon on Feb. 28 to $4.091 on July 23, according to AAA.
The price of oil is set on a global market, which is why Americans still feel pain at the pump even as U.S. producers pump record amounts of crude oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“The simultaneous disruption in both the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandeb will put incredible pressure on the global economy,” Ralby told the DCNF. “With about 20% of the world’s energy supply, but specific supplies of crude oil, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, fertilizer, helium, and other critical goods, as well as refined fuel products, not being accessible … will create both supply issues and cost issues at a level we haven’t yet seen.”
The Pentagon referred to U.S. Central Command, which referred to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
“The U.S.-Iran war is becoming a much wider, regional conflict. The key implication of this is that countries like the U.A.E, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, will be drawn in to engage more forcefully, going beyond trying to shoot down incoming drones and missiles, but striking back against the aggressor — Iran,” J.D. Foster, a former senior fellow on the economics of fiscal policy at The Heritage Foundation, previously told the DCNF.
One video on X shows a massive fire that engulfed one of the tankers on July 22.
“An official source at the Transport General Authority (TGA) stated that the vessel ENCELIA, owned by a Saudi company, was targeted while sailing in the Red Sea, resulting in a fire at the bow of the vessel,” the Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday. “The source confirmed the safety of all crew members and that all relevant authorities have taken the necessary measures to secure the vessel and its crew and protect the marine environment.”
“Disrupting maritime commerce does not take a huge amount of either capacity or capability, nor does it take much in the way of cost,” Ralby told the DCNF. “The Houthis have multiple ways in which they can put pressure on commercial shipping and disrupt the flow of goods into and out of Saudi Arabia.”
Ralby speculated that the Houthis could expand their attack to the Suez Canal, which would further exacerbate the already-strained global supply chain.
“The concern remains as well that if the Houthis are able to attack and close the Bab al-Mandeb for much of that energy flow, there is the possibility that they will also seek to attack and close the Suez Canal in some form to prevent the overall flow of oil and gas products out of the entire Gulf,” Ralby told the DCNF.
The Houthi rebels began attacking shipping and the U.S. Navy in 2023. The rebels attacked U.S. warships over 170 times and commercial vessels 145 times between 2023 and 2025, former Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said during a press conference on March 17, 2025.
Trump’s 2025 campaign against the Houthis cost roughly $1 billion in its first month but failed to establish air superiority or stop attacks on U.S. warships, The New York Times reported.
The Houthis downed several MQ-9 Reaper drones, two F/A-18 Super Hornets were lost in carrier accidents, and the administration ultimately halted the campaign under an Oman-brokered deal that protected American ships but not other commercial vessels.
Some analysts have cautioned that the U.S. military was unable to defeat the Houthis then, and will likely be unable to defeat them now.
“American military might has not been able to do much more than put a dent in the Houthis, who control the Bab al-Mandeb Strait,” Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University, previously told the DCNF. “For context, 10% of the U.S. Navy’s total commissioned fleet participated in combat operations against the Houthis. And what did that accomplish? It shut down the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. That is not very smart.”
“A year ago, we were unable to militarily defeat the Houthis … Northwestern Yemen is incredibly mountainous terrain, with peaks and valleys that run parallel to the Bab al-Mandeb & Red Sea—a critical but very narrow passageway,” former director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent said in an X post on July 23.
These new events echo the past, when Saudi Arabia’s oil production was attacked by the Houthis in 2019. The attack wiped out half of Saudi Arabia’s oil supply, AP reported.
“Despite billions of dollars spent in both maritime missions and terrestrial bombing campaigns, nothing was able to fully stop the threat of the Houthis. With renewed inspiration to attack ships, as well as to be a good neighbor and ally to Iran, this presents a potential long-term challenge that has no military solution,” Ralby told the DCNF. “No amount of bombing can change the will of people who are seemingly inspired by getting bombed. Indeed, to change the will will be the only approach that could have an effect, and that is not a military function but rather a diplomatic one born of acumen in an international relations context.”
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