Oil tanker 'armada' moves to Red Sea with closure of Strait of Hormuz

Oil tanker 'armada' moves to Red Sea with closure of Strait of Hormuz Submitted by MEE staff on Thu, 03/12/2026 - 14:57 Tankers still have to pass the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, where the Houthis have attacked ships in recent years Boats manoeuvring around a tanker during a military exercise in the Strait of Hormuz by members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corp, on 17 February 2026 (Sepah News/AFP) Off A massive flotilla of tankers is rushing to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast to pick up crude oil that has been diverted as a result of Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Between 24 and 30 large crude carriers are en route to the Saudi Arabian port city of Yanbu, where the East-West pipeline terminates, according to ship tracking data reported by Bloomberg and The Financial Times on Thursday. With Iran having effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, the 1,200km East-West pipeline is now the juggernaut for Gulf oil exports.