On Monday, July 20, 2026, the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen announced a naval blockade of the southern Red Sea. Within four days, the price of oil that fuels factories, ferries and jeepneys from Manila to Mumbai had crossed $100 a barrel.
The Houthis said they were imposing the blockade on Saudi Arabia. Riyadh answered overnight with what its Foreign Ministry called the “strongest condemnation” of the claims by the Houthi military spokesperson, who had accused the kingdom of besieging the Yemeni people. The two sides had already been trading strikes after an Iranian plane tried to land in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital.
Why the Red Sea matters now
The timing is what makes this bite. Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, and the United States has also been restricting ship movements there. Saudi Arabia had been diverting its oil by pipeline to its Red Sea ports to get around that closure. The Houthi blockade goes after the workaround itself.
Reuters reported that Iran had been pressing the Houthis to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway if the US kept attacking Iranian power infrastructure, after an interim truce between the two countries collapsed about two weeks earlier. Bab el-Mandeb controls access from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. It is the second-most-important oil channel in the world after Hormuz.
What happened to the price
Markets did not wait. After the Houthis said they had struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, Brent futures settled up 7% above $100 a barrel on Thursday, the first time since May. On Friday, July 24, Brent stood at $101.06 a barrel in early trading, heading for a 14.6% gain on the week and a fourth straight weekly rise. West Texas Intermediate was at $91.20, its highest since June 11.
ING analysts said the potential supply disruptions were “larger than at any time during the war.” Their note went on: “Not only have oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz essentially dried up, but there are clear risks to Saudi oil flows from the Red Sea.” Ship-tracking data from Kpler showed just one tanker crossing Hormuz on July 23, the fewest since May 7.
President Donald Trump vowed to “hold Iran responsible” for any further attacks. Far from the Gulf, in households that count every peso or ringgit at the pump, the number to watch is that Brent price: when it stays above $100, the bill eventually reaches everyone.
