A tanker, left, and a car carrier are anchored at sea in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from the coast near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, Friday, May 1, 2026. AP Photo AP
World

Gulf shipping traffic down after Houthis say they attacked Saudi tanker

Reuters

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, the key ​maritime chokepoints in the Gulf, reduced significantly on ‌Wednesday from the previous day, shipping data showed.

Just two vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz, including a Panama-flagged coal-laden ​carrier entering the waterway and another commodity ​Marshall Islands-flagged vessel exiting, shipping data from ⁠Kpler showed, down from eight vessels a day ​earlier.

Roughly 130 to 140 ships would typically transit the ​waterway before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began on February 28 and Iran responded by closing the strait.

In the Bab el-Mandeb, ​only one commodity vessel, a Bahamas-flagged dry bulk ​carrier, crossed the strait on Wednesday, Kpler data showed, down ‌from ⁠20 the previous day.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Wednesday they had launched a missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker off the coast of the kingdom's ​Red Sea port ​city of ⁠Yanbu and another missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker in the Gulf ​of Aden.

There was no confirmation from ​Saudi ⁠Arabia on either incident.

The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea since ⁠last ​month in response to what ​they described as a Saudi siege on Yemen, an allegation Riyadh ​has denied.

New Delhi allowed a ‘genocider’ a stage. Dhaka drew the line

How a trans wedding put Bangladesh’s national Hindu temple under fire

'Bangladesh will stand on the world stage with dignity'

Bangladesh outraged 'genocider' Hasina allowed to engage with Indian media: Foreign ministry

Maheshkhali LNG terminal resumes partial operation after 2-week outage