Houthis Say They Struck Aramco in Yanbu

Today, attention has shifted directly to Yanbu, Saudi Arabia’s main oil export hub on the Red Sea.

The Houthis say they attacked Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu using missiles and drones. Saudi Arabia has not yet publicly confirmed that the oil facility itself was hit.

But the choice of target is significant.

Yanbu is not just another port on the map. It is Saudi Arabia’s main oil export hub on the Red Sea, where millions of barrels of crude can be loaded under normal conditions. Its importance has grown further in recent months because it allows Saudi Arabia to export oil without having to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

And this is where today’s attack connects with what happened only a few days ago.

Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, a roughly 1,200-kilometer pipeline carrying crude from the country’s eastern oil fields toward Yanbu, was taken offline after an earlier drone attack. In recent months, it had been moving around 4–5 million barrels per day.

Because of that outage, loadings at Yanbu had already been restricted before today’s Houthi claim, and Saudi Arabia cancelled some September shipments to Europe. Some physical crude cargoes in Europe subsequently traded above $130 per barrel.

So today’s development is not just another isolated attack.

First, the pipeline that helped Saudi Arabia bypass problems around Hormuz was hit. Now the Houthis say they have attacked Aramco directly at the destination of that pipeline.

Saudi Arabia is trying to reroute some supplies through Oman, so we are not talking about a complete halt to Saudi exports. But the number of secure routes available for moving oil from the region to the global market is starting to narrow.

For gold and silver, this does not translate into a simple “attack = higher prices” equation. The longer-term connection runs through energy costs, inflation, transportation, interest rates, and broader uncertainty across financial markets.

If significant damage to oil infrastructure at Yanbu is confirmed, pressure on already strained Saudi export routes could increase further.