India-Bound Saudi Crude Tanker Makes U-Turn After Houthi Warning

Two oil tankers loaded with Saudi crude for China and India made U-turns in the Red Sea on Tuesday, heading towards the Suez Canal rather than braving the Yemeni coast at the sea's mouth following a warning from Yemen's Iran-aligned ?Houthi militia. 

The changes in direction by the ships, the Xin Long Yang and the Rodos, suggest a second potential disruption to ?a major shipping route that could compound the shortfall in global energy markets caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Houthis on Monday declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia, opening a potential new front in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran



and raising the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf. 

The group, in an email sent ?to shipping companies, warned them not to load or discharge cargo at Saudi Arabian ports and said such activity may result in being targeted "in any ?location". 

The Houthis control northern Yemen, including the coast of the Bab el-Mandeb, the strait at the mouth of the ?Red Sea. Since the Strait of Hormuz controlling access to the Gulf has been blocked during the war, Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Yanbu ?has become the main alternative route for Middle East oil, allowing exports of millions of barrels per day.