Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry shut the kingdom's East-West crude pipeline on Sep 11 as a precaution after drones launched from Iraq struck facilities in the Riyadh and Medina regions on Thursday, causing fires, damage, and several injuries [1]. The pipeline carries up to 7 million barrels per day to Red Sea export terminals and has been a critical alternative to Hormuz transit during the Iran conflict — Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said it has played a bigger role than emergency crude reserves [1]. Riyadh said it is refraining from retaliation to give Iraq time to act [1].

Separately, Iran's IRGC claimed it struck and seized a US unmanned surface drone at the Hormuz entrance on Sep 12, while UKMTO reported projectiles hitting two ships off Oman with no attribution [2]. US Central Command said forces destroyed 10 Iranian tankers in the past week, sinking at least one [3].

Hormuz transits fell to 7 on Sep 11, down from 11 the prior day and well below the 10-day average of 15, with non-Iranian Gulf crude exports averaging over 10M bpd aided by US-facilitated passage [3][4].