Gulf shipping traffic down after Houthis say they attacked Saudi tanker

Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. File | Photo Credit: Reuters Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and ​the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, the key maritime chokepoints ‌in the Gulf, reduced significantly ​on Wednesday (August 5, 2026) from the previous ⁠day, shipping data showed.Also read | West Asia LIVE: August 6, 2026Just two vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz, including a Panama-flagged ‌coal-laden carrier entering the waterway and another commodity Marshall Islands-flagged ‌vessel exiting, shipping data from Kpler ‌showed, ⁠down from eight vessels ⁠a day earlier. Roughly 130 to 140 ships would typically transit the waterway before the U.S.-Israeli war ​with Iran ‌began on February 28 and Iran responded by closing the strait.In the Bab el-Mandeb, only one commodity vessel, ‌a Bahamas-flagged dry bulk carrier, crossed ​the strait on Wednesday, Kpler data showed, down from 20 ⁠the previous day. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Wednesday they had launched a ‌missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker off the coast of the kingdom’s Red Sea port city of Yanbu and another missile attack on a Saudi oil tanker ‌in the Gulf of Aden.There was no ​confirmation from Saudi Arabia on either incident.The Houthis have imposed a ⁠naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the ⁠Red Sea since last month in response to what ‌they described as a Saudi siege on Yemen, an allegation Riyadh ​has denied. Published - August 06, 2026 12:32 pm IST