LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Saudi Arabia is under pressure from two wars, challenging how the world's largest oil exporter can move oil out. There is the war the U.S. and Israel started in Iran, which has led to Iranian attacks against Saudi oil and ships. And Saudi Arabia has been fighting a war in Yemen. Houthis there pushed out Saudi-backed fighters from a territory overlooking a major shipping route in the Red Sea. NPR's correspondent in the Gulf, Aya Batrawy, is here with the latest. Good morning, Aya.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: So how significant is this squeeze on Saudi Arabia?
BATRAWY: So this is one of the most difficult moments that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has faced since that meteoric rise to power in 2015. That was the same year that his father became king and named him defense minister. And one of his first moves as defense minister was launching this war in Yemen to push the Houthis, who are backed by Iran, out of Yemen's capital, where they had taken power and forced the internationally backed government out. But 11 years later, Leila, you know, the Houthis, who Washington and the Saudis say receive weapons and training from Iran, still control the capital, Sanaa.
And then last week, they took control of a key port in islands that sit in the Bab el-Mandeb crossing. That's a key shipping route in the Red Sea. So Saudi-backed forces were pushed out so quickly that some of them left their armored cars for the Houthis to seize. And the U.N. says the fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in Yemen.
FADEL: There was another blow to Saudi energy supplies when its main oil pipeline was attacked. How big of a blow is this attack?
BATRAWY: So as you mentioned in the beginning, the kingdom is facing chokeholds on its shipping on both sides of the Arabian Peninsula, in the Strait of Hormuz and now from Houthi attacks in Bab el-Mandeb. But then it came under attack from Iran-backed militias in Iraq. Saudi Arabia says drones from Iraq hit its 750-mile-long pipeline on Thursday. Now, this pipeline was rerouting oil from Saudi refineries in the east, where ships can't pass through the Strait of Hormuz. And the Saudis were using that pipeline to move their oil across country, onto ships, through Bab el-Mandeb in the Red Sea on the west.
This pipeline, though, is now shut down. And satellite images show damage to it. And it could take weeks to fix and take millions of barrels of Saudi oil off the market. Diesel is already at a record high in the U.S. And Brent crude is trading at $107 now.
FADEL: So how are Saudi Arabia and its allies responding to this?
BATRAWY: So Saudi Arabia said it wouldn't launch drone attacks on Iraq in order to give Iraq, you know, its government a chance to respond and go after militias there. But in Yemen, it is launching deadly airstrikes, including some that Houthis say have killed civilians. The Saudis, meanwhile, say the Houthis are firing at the kingdom's southern regions, wounding civilians. And today, there were even missile alerts in Jeddah and Mecca.
But the kingdom's allies haven't stepped in to help. Egypt, for example, doesn't want a confrontation with the Houthis. It relies on revenue from the Suez Canal and Red Sea shipping. Last year, we know the Saudis also had a fallout with their once partner in Yemen, the UAE. The Emirates, Saudis accuse the Emirates of arming Yemeni separatists. And then the Saudis forced the UAE out of Yemen.
But what we know is that President Trump has also been clear, he's not going to rush to bomb the Houthis like he did last year when the group was blocking international shipping over the war in Gaza. In fact, Vice President Vance says the U.S. is now talking to the Houthis. And the Houthis tell NPR, they're only attacking Saudi ships, not others, in order to pressure Saudi to end its blockade on Houthi areas. So this isn't only a Saudi dilemma, though. We are seeing it ripping through energy markets globally.
FADEL: That's NPR's Aya Batrawy in Dubai. Thank you, Aya.
BATRAWY: Thanks, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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