- Saudi Aramco confirms manageable risk for its tankers navigating the Red Sea despite ongoing conflicts.
- Houthi rebels explicitly allow Chinese and Russian vessels to pass safely, reflecting geopolitical alignments.
- Iran’s recent diplomatic rapprochement with Saudi Arabia possibly contributes to the ‘free pass’ for Riyadh’s oil transits.
China and Russia aren’t the only countries being given a “pass” from Yemen’s Houthi rebels, but Saudi Arabia is also exporting crude oil through the Red Sea as if in perfectly normal times At a moment that especially Western and any and all Israeli-linked vessels are being targeted by rocket and drone attacks out of Yemen, the head of Aramco’s refining, oil trading and marketing division Mohammed Al Qahtani has confirmed to Bloomberg, “We’re moving in the Red Sea with our oil and products cargoes.” He added that the risks remain “manageable” On January 19 a senior Houthi official, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, mentioned these US rivals by name in an interview with the Russian outlet Izvestia. “As for all other countries, including Russia and China, their shipping in the region is not threatened,” he said, stipulating this will remain in effect as long as they are not linked to Israel or its supporters