Houthis claim strike on Saudi tanker in latest Red Sea escalation

BREAKING: Houthis claim a missile strike on a Saudi oil tanker 63 nautical miles west of Yanbu, setting it ablaze, in the latest escalation under their announced blockade of Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi oil tanker is on fire in the Red Sea, and the Houthis say they did it.

The group claims a missile strike hit the vessel sixty three nautical miles west of Yanbu, one of Saudi Arabia's main oil ports, and set it ablaze. This is the latest move under what the Houthis call their blockade of Saudi Arabia, an announced campaign to choke traffic heading to and from the kingdom's Red Sea coast. You can see the group parading its hardware here, and they've made clear this arsenal is now pointed at Saudi shipping.

Yanbu matters. It's a major export terminal, and tankers running that corridor carry a serious share of the crude that moves west. Every strike like this pushes insurers, shippers and navies toward the same hard choice, reroute, escort, or absorb the risk.

For now, one tanker is burning off the Saudi coast, and the blockade the Houthis promised is no longer just words.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.