Saudi Arabia’s Oil ‘Lifeline’ Was Attacked. Here’s What to Know.

BREAKING: Saudi Arabia closes its East-West oil pipeline after a drone attack launched from Iraq, threatening a key workaround to Iran's Persian Gulf blockade.

Saudi Arabia just shut down its East-West oil pipeline after a drone attack.

The strike was launched from Iraq, and you can see the impact site here, a hit deep in the Saudi desert. This isn't just any pipeline. With Iran blockading the Persian Gulf, the East-West line was the workaround, carrying crude across the country to the Red Sea port of Yanbu so tankers could load without going anywhere near the Strait of Hormuz.

These are the terminals that lifeline feeds. Close the pipeline and that door narrows too. Riyadh hasn't said how long repairs will take, and every day it stays shut, the world's spare capacity gets thinner.

So hold onto this. The one route Saudi oil had around Iran's blockade is now offline, and whoever flew that drone from Iraq knew exactly which artery to cut.

This is Angel Manalo, reporting for HIT.