Saudi Arabia ​has shut down its East-West pipeline after the vital oil conduit came under aerial attack in the widening Middle East war, threatening to send energy prices even higher, reported Reuters.

The world’s largest crude oil exporter temporarily ‌closed the pipeline after a drone attack that both Baghdad and Riyadh said had originated in Iraq, where Iranian-backed militias operate. Iraq dismissed a military commander on Saturday in response to the attack.

The 1,200-km pipeline running across the Arabian Peninsula had helped Saudi Arabia to bypass a shipping logjam in the Strait of Hormuz, where tanker traffic has slowed to a trickle due to the six-month war between the US and Iran.

The Saudi Energy Ministry said it had shut the pipeline as a precaution. The line has been moving 4 million to 5 million ​barrels per day in recent months, amounting to 4% to 5% of global supply, according to ship tracking companies and analysts.

An early analysis found that pump stations, which are located next to the pipeline itself, were hit, reported CNN citing senior US officials. A satellite image taken on Friday appears to show extensive fire damage at one pumping station, and an image of a different pumping station, taken Thursday, showed a small fire sending up plumes of thick, black smoke.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strikes or if sections of the pipeline itself were damaged but one of the officials said it was struck by drones originating from Iraq.

The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs later released a statement condemning “the attack on the East-West Pipeline in the Riyadh and Madinah regions by several drones coming from Iraq, which resulted in injuries and some damage that is currently being addressed.”

The strike signals that the kingdom’s oil resources - and its ability to export those resources - are facing increasing threats as the Iran War continues. 

The attacks on the pipeline come within days of an Iranian-aligned militia’s seizure of a strategic Red Sea port city in Yemen that could further threaten energy shipping in the region.

It was not immediately clear how long it would take to repair the damage to the pipeline system, sources said.

According to Reuters, satellite images showed black smoke ​rising from an area of the pipeline south of Madinah. The attack resulted in some injuries and damage that was being assessed, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said without detailing ⁠the impact on exports.

Satellites detected nine large fires burning close to Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline on Thursday, though the locations of at least six of the fires appeared to correspond to flare pits, where oil and gas can be burned off in the event of an emergency.

Four Yemeni government sources told Reuters that Houthis had seized the strategic island of Perim on Friday at the mouth of the Red Sea, in the Bab el-Mandeb strait.

The dual attacks reported on ​Friday — on the pipeline and Perim Island — could represent a dangerous escalation while diplomatic efforts to end the war have stalled.

In a post on X on Saturday, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, said: "As long as the American side does not accept all of Iran's conditions, dialogue and negotiation are of no use."

Saudi crude supply fell to the lowest levels in more than three decades, the International Energy Agency said on Friday, partly due to attacks on ships transiting Bab el-Mandeb by Houthi-linked groups.

Iraq responded by ordering the closure of the Shalamcheh border crossing between Iraq and Iran as a precautionary measure, two security sources told Reuters. The crossing serves as one of the main routes for the import to Iraq of vegetables and other food supplies from Iran.

The two sources said a wide-scale operation was under way to find those responsible for the pipeline attack.

In late July, Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman met with US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in Washington, DC, to convey the Kingdom’s assessment on the ongoing US war with Iran – that Iran would seek to create leverage through escalation and would try to make use of its remaining proxies – militias in Iraq and the Houthis – to do so, sources told CNN.

With Houthi fighters declaring they would target any Saudi ships attempting to pass through Bab al-Mandeb out of the Red Sea, that outlet for the kingdom’s oil could also be at risk.

The GCC meanwhile issued a missive condemning the attack. "This attack represents a dangerous escalation and an unacceptable threat to the security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its territorial integrity, and its vital installations, as well as a flagrant violation of the principles of international law," stated its secretary general Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi.

This week, a lightning advance in Yemen has also seen Houthi militants seize control of much of the country's coastline, reported BBC, citing sources.

The group claims it has control of the Bab Al Mandab Strait, the gateway to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, though it says maritime navigation is "safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels".

The Houthis' lightning advance across the southern reaches of the Tihamah – Yemen's arid coastal plain – appears to have taken most observers by surprise.

Until recently, the anti-Houthi coalition known as the National Resistance held significant territory along Yemen's Red Sea coast. In a matter of days, much of this has fallen to the Houthis, stated the BBC report.

According to some estimates, the Iranian-backed rebels have captured as much as 130km (81 miles) of the country's strategically important coastline.

Reuters reported on Thursday that the dramatic Houthi advance down Yemen's Red Sea coast came with direct guidance from Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Iran told the Houthis last week to ​escalate their attacks on Saudi Arabia and promised more funding, weapons and senior officers to help them do so, two Iranian sources said.