Live Updates

UPDATE — Jul 16, 7:12 AM CT: Reuters: Iran tells Houthis to shut Red Sea gateway if US strikes its power network

Iran has told the Houthis to close the Red Sea gateway if the United States strikes its power network, sources told Reuters in an exclusive report published minutes ago.

The directive links a potential shutdown of the Bab el-Mandeb strait — a critical route for oil and gas shipments toward the Suez Canal — to any US attack on Iranian infrastructure, according to the sources cited by Reuters.

Kingdom Exploration's read: tying a chokepoint closure to a specific trigger raises the escalation risk around two of the world's key oil transit routes. Any move to restrict traffic through the Red Sea gateway would force more tankers onto longer routes around Africa, pressuring freight costs and supply.

UPDATE — Jul 15, 10:21 AM CT: UK maritime authority reports warning shots fired at tanker in Red Sea

A UK maritime authority has reported that warning shots were fired at a tanker in the Red Sea, per Crypto Briefing, marking a fresh escalation in the maritime security crisis surrounding one of the world's busiest oil corridors.

The incident adds to concerns already raised by Houthi threats against a second oil chokepoint. No further details on casualties, vessel identity or cargo were confirmed in the report.

Kingdom Exploration's read: any active targeting of tankers near the Red Sea reinforces the risk premium building across crude markets, as shippers weigh costlier reroutes around southern Africa and insurers reassess exposure to the region.

The Houthis have issued a fresh threat to close the world's other major oil chokepoint even as the Strait of Hormuz remains a war zone, according to the National Security Journal in a report published within the last hour. The warning raises the prospect of simultaneous pressure on two of the maritime passages that global crude and refined-product flows depend on.

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What Just Happened

Per the National Security Journal, the Houthis threatened to slam shut a second critical oil chokepoint — a route the outlet frames as the world's "other" passage alongside the Strait of Hormuz. The threat lands at a moment when Hormuz itself is described as an active war zone, compounding concern about the security of energy shipping lanes.

Chokepoints like these are narrow maritime corridors through which a large share of seaborne oil must physically travel. When traders perceive that even one is at risk, the cost of insuring and rerouting cargoes climbs. A threat spanning two of them at once magnifies that anxiety.

The Numbers

The National Security Journal report available to us does not attach specific figures — no barrels-per-day at risk, price moves, or vessel counts were provided in the source text. We are declining to publish estimates that were not in the reporting.

  • Chokepoints threatened: two, per the outlet's framing
  • Status of Hormuz: described as a war zone
  • Specific volumes and price data: not stated in the source

As this is a developing story, concrete supply figures may emerge in follow-on reporting.

Why Oil Prices Could Rise

The mechanism is straightforward. Oil markets price risk before disruption is confirmed. When a route that carries meaningful crude and product volumes is threatened, shippers reroute around it, insurance and freight rates jump, and traders build a risk premium into the price of a barrel to reflect the possibility of a genuine supply interruption.

The situation described by the National Security Journal is unusual because it involves two chokepoints under strain at the same time. If one passage becomes unusable and traffic is forced onto the other while that route is also contested, the market has fewer fallback options — and fewer options tends to mean a wider premium.

Kingdom Exploration's read: markets don't wait for a chokepoint to actually close — the threat alone can pull a risk premium into crude. Two contested passages at once removes the usual relief valve, and that's what traders will be watching.

What to Watch Next

  • Whether the Houthis follow the threat with concrete action against shipping
  • Confirmed volumes of crude and refined products moving through the affected route
  • Insurance and freight-rate responses for vessels transiting the region
  • Any change in the security status of Hormuz that would compound the disruption
  • Statements from producers on spare capacity and alternative routing

Kingdom Exploration will update this story as verified figures and official responses become available.

Reporting sourced from National Security Journal. Developing story.

About Kingdom Exploration

Kingdom Exploration LLC is an Oklahoma-based oil and gas exploration company. Learn more at kingdomexploration.com.