Saudi tanker Amzan hit off Yanbu, all crew reported safe

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YANBU, Saudi Arabia — A projectile struck the Saudi tanker Amzan in the Red Sea on Monday and set a fire on its main deck, monitors said.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency put the strike about 63 nautical miles west of Yanbu. All crew were safe and accounted for, and no environmental impact had been reported, UKMTO said.

The Houthis said their forces hit the vessel with a ballistic missile.

A Houthi military spokesman said the tanker, which belongs to the Saudi national shipping company Bahri, “was targeted off the coast of Yanbu in Saudi Arabia with a ballistic missile,” Al Jazeera reported.

Bahri confirmed the Amzan had been involved in a maritime incident in the Red Sea. It said it was in contact with the vessel and coordinating with the relevant authorities, and that all crew were safe with no injuries reported.

“The safety of our people, the protection of the maritime environment, and the safe management of the vessel remain our highest priorities,” the company said.

Saudi officials had not confirmed the incident. Al Jazeera said a request for comment to the foreign ministry went unanswered.

The Houthis said the attack was “part of the implementation of the Armed Forces’ decision to ban maritime navigation by the Saudi enemy.”

The group said the strike was accurate and direct, started a fire aboard the vessel, and caused other ships in the area to flee. That last account has not been independently confirmed.

Security firms placed the strike further offshore. Vanguard Tech said the vessel was Saudi-flagged and put the position 90 to 100 nautical miles west of Yanbu, according to Seatrade Maritime News.

Ambrey said the ship issued a distress alert. The Egyptian navy was reported to have responded and was transiting to the area to conduct a rescue operation, the firm said.

No group had claimed the attack at the time of that assessment. Ambrey said it was aware of reports the Houthis had launched an attack towards Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi Arabian shipping on 20 July.

The group says it is pursuing a maritime blockade of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, Al Jazeera reported.

They claimed responsibility for attacks on two tankers on 5 and 6 August. Both had recently called at Saudi ports, Seatrade reported.

A fatal attack on the vessel Tihamah earlier in August prompted the International Maritime Organization to call for more careful Red Sea risk assessments.

The Joint Maritime Information Centre kept its threat level for the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the southern Red Sea at substantial on 23 August.

“Based on the recent attacks, sustained intent, and maintained capability, additional attacks are a strong possibility,” the centre said.

Yanbu is Saudi Arabia’s main oil terminal on the Red Sea.

Volumes there rose quickly after the conflict with Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in March, restricting the kingdom’s main export terminals in the Gulf.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence estimates exports from Yanbu have fallen by at least a third since the blockade began, Euronews reported. Saudi Arabia was shipping about four million barrels a day from the terminal before it.

The tanker owner DHT said earlier this month that most Red Sea oil exports were transiting the Suez Canal, a route that adds distance and cost for deliveries to Asia.

Iran granted permission for some Iraqi oil tankers to pass through Hormuz on 22 August, Al Jazeera reported.

Al Jazeera said the strike heightened fears that the war between the United States, Israel and Iran could spread further across the region.

Al Jazeera described the targeting of Saudi assets as Houthi action in support of Iran. The group has not framed it in those terms, and says it is enforcing a ban on Saudi navigation.

The Houthis have also targeted an oil refinery inside Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, Al Jazeera reported.

Seven people were killed in an attack at a Yemeni port this month. At least six were killed and 10 wounded in a strike on a cargo vessel in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, Yemen’s government said.

Yemen Herald could not independently verify those casualty figures.

Saudi Arabia announced the start of a Red Sea defence alliance on 14 August.

Saudi-linked vessels in the Red Sea have been attacked several times in the past month, Al Jazeera said.

Saudi Arabia said a fire at an Aramco facility in Jizan was extinguished on 9 August.

Fighting on land has also picked up. Al Jazeera reported on 20 August that the Houthis and the Yemeni government were trading attacks as the country slid back towards full-scale war.

The risk to shipping in the wider region is not confined to the Red Sea. The International Maritime Organization said on 25 August that Somali pirates were holding more than 90 seafarers.

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control warned on 25 August that complying with Iranian instructions in the Strait of Hormuz could by itself breach sanctions, Seatrade reported.

The Amzan strike came the same day Yemen’s acting ambassador to Kenya told a Nairobi business audience that attacks on Red Sea shipping had disrupted regional trade, the state news agency Saba reported.