Saudi Arabia Halts East-West Pipeline After Iraq Drone Strikes as MBS Calls Trump Twice Urging Houthi Strikes , Trump Declines

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy announced on Friday that the East-West oil pipeline was attacked in both the Riyadh and Medina regions on Thursday morning causing injuries and forcing the suspension of pipeline operations as a precautionary safety measure, as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called President Donald Trump twice on Thursday urging him to launch strikes against the Houthis as the Iran-backed group closed in on the vital Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint, two US officials told Axios. Trump declined, and US officials stressed the administration has no plans to intervene directly against the Houthis for now.

"In the early morning of Thursday, September 10, 2026, the East-West oil pipeline was attacked in both the Riyadh and Medina regions," the Saudi Energy Ministry said in its official statement. "As a result of the attacks, a number of people were injured and received immediate medical care. As a precautionary safety measure, operations in the pipeline have been suspended."

The ministry confirmed that emergency response teams and specialized technical teams reached the site immediately and took the necessary steps to protect the pipeline and assess its safety status, in coordination with relevant parties. The ministry added that any new developments will be officially announced. According to a CNN report on Friday citing two informed US officials, initial assessments revealed that pumping stations located alongside the main pipeline were struck. One of the officials indicated the attack was carried out by drones originating from within Iraqi territory, though it remains unclear whether the pipeline itself sustained damage or how long repairs might take.

MBS Calls Trump Twice. Trump Says No.

The scale of the threat to Saudi energy infrastructure was severe enough to prompt Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to call President Trump twice on Thursday, urging him to launch strikes against the Houthis as the Iran-backed group simultaneously closed in on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, Axios reported Friday citing two US officials. Trump declined both calls, with US officials stressing that the administration has no plans to intervene directly against the Houthis for now.

Trump's refusal to strike the Houthis at Saudi Arabia's request represents a significant moment in the US-Saudi relationship during the conflict. Washington approved a $5.75 billion weapons package for Saudi Arabia on September 4, 2026, has coordinated joint strikes on Iranian proxy targets in eastern Iraq, and has positioned itself as Saudi Arabia's primary security guarantor throughout the war. But the decision to decline two direct calls from MBS requesting Houthi strikes signals that the Trump administration is drawing a clear distinction between supporting Saudi Arabia's defense and being drawn into a direct military confrontation with the Houthis on Riyadh's behalf.

The Strategic Significance of the Attack

The East-West pipeline has taken on decisive strategic importance for Saudi Arabia since Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz in February 2026. Before the war, Saudi Arabia exported approximately 5 million barrels of oil per day through the Gulf, most of which transited Hormuz. After the strait closed, Riyadh rerouted that entire volume through the East-West pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu for export via the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The pipeline runs approximately 1,200 kilometers across the Arabian Peninsula from the Eastern Province's oil fields to Yanbu, with a capacity of approximately 5 million barrels per day.

The attack on the East-West pipeline arrived on the same day that the Houthis captured the port city of Mocha and, according to Yemeni government sources, the strategic Perim Island in the middle of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the waterway through which the bulk of East-West pipeline exports exit toward Asian and European markets. Saudi crude flows through Bab al-Mandeb had already collapsed from a peak of approximately 3 million barrels per day to approximately 400,000 barrels per day in August due to Houthi threats, according to energy analyst Richard Bronze of Energy Aspects.

The simultaneous targeting of the East-West pipeline by drones from Iraq and the Houthis' capture of Bab al-Mandeb strategic positions means that Saudi Arabia faced threats to both ends of its primary Hormuz bypass route on the same day, with the pipeline under attack at the origin point and the exit strait under Houthi military control at the destination. Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had declared on August 29, 2026, that either all Gulf states export their oil freely or none will, framing the targeting of Saudi export infrastructure as a deliberate and strategic implementation of that ultimatum.