After a nine-month pause, Houthi militants in Yemen allied to Iran resumed attacks on vessels in the Red Sea on July 22, 2026, directly targeting the group’s longtime foe Saudi Arabia. A week later, a floating liquefied natural gas storage facility in Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta was struck by suspected Iranian drones, causing a fire that spread to a nearby tanker.
As a longtime Gulf analyst, I believe these two maritime attacks by Iran and its proxies signal that efforts to bypass the Strait of Hormuz — which Tehran has largely shut down since being attacked by Israel and the U.S. on Feb. 28 — is no panacea for regional peace or stability in global energy markets.
