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Saudi Arabia shuts East-West oil pipeline

September 13, 2026

Saudi Arabia shut its East-West oil pipeline on Friday after drone attacks the day before, cutting the route that carries crude north toward the Suez Canal.

Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline runs crude across the country to the Red Sea and has become the kingdom's main way to keep exports moving since the outbreak of the US-Iran war.

Key facts

The Associated Press carries the account of the pipeline attack and its regional setting, and Reuters ties the outage to the possible loss of 4% of global oil supply. CNN reports that Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy says the pipeline "was subjected to multiple attacks" on Thursday, with a number of injuries, and that teams are working to secure the line and assess its safety. ABC News reports that the kingdom then shut the cross-country line on Friday as a precaution. Both outlets carry the same consequence: with Iran threatening the Strait of Hormuz and the Houthis positioned at the Bab el-Mandeb, through which around 12% of global trade passes, the closure removes the northern route to the Suez Canal.

The accounts split on who is responsible. One puts Iran behind the attack launched from Iraq, drawing on Trump's own wording that Iran was probably responsible; another holds that it remains unclear at this stage who was behind the attacks. The same split runs through the framing of what the strike signals, with one account reading it as mounting pressure on Saudi oil exports as the Iran war continues and another declining to draw that conclusion. The difference matters for a reader weighing whether this is an attributed act of state-backed escalation or an unclaimed attack on infrastructure.

The Iraqi response is corroborated and is not in dispute. ABC News reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered an investigation into the operations command of Maysan province on the Iranian border and dismissed its commander, and Al Jazeera reports that Iraq seized a drone-launching platform used to target the Saudi pipeline. Politico and the Associated Press both carry the wider picture of Saudi Arabia's narrowing options against threats from Iran and its allies. ABC News also reports that Valiollah Hayati, deputy governor of Iran's Khuzestan province, says the Shalamcheh and Chazabeh crossings are closed, and that Bahrain will not attend any group meeting including Iran before diplomatic relations are restored. Settled: the attack, the shutdown, the injuries, the Iraqi investigation and dismissal, and Trump's call with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Unsettled: responsibility.

Still developing

The open question is who was behind the attack launched from Iraq, where the accounts do not settle what was said.

How settled the reporting is

Reported 87% · Contested 2% · Developing 11%

Sources