Houthis Release Video of Them Blowing Up the SOUNION Tanker

The Iranian-backed Houthi militant group has released video footage showing them boarding and detonating explosives on the oil tanker MT SOUNION off the coast of Yemen, confirming that the Yemen-based militant group planted explosives in an intentional act to sink the vessel off its own coast.

The vessel, carrying approximately one million barrels of crude oil, was initially targeted by multiple projectiles and later blown up by the Iranian-backed Houthis on August 23. A potential oil spill of that magnitude would create an environmental catastrophe over three times larger than the Exxon Valdez disaster, and rank as the fifth-largest oil spill from a tanker in history.

As of Thursday the vessel remained on fire in several locations. EU’s Operation ASPIDES also reports that the vessel is anchored and no oil spill has occurred, although recent satellite imagery seems to refute that.

The Houthis have now agreed to allow tugs and rescue vessels access to the SOUNION to assist with salvage efforts.

Operation ASPIDES issued a warning, stating, “All passing vessels in the vicinity are required to proceed with utmost caution, as the M/V SOUNION poses both a navigational risk and a serious and imminent threat of regional pollution.” The operation added, “To avert a catastrophic environmental crisis, EU NAVAL FORCES ASPIDES, in coordination with European authorities, is assessing the situation and stands ready to facilitate any courses of action.”

The attack comes exactly one year after a successful UN-led operation to remove over 1 million barrels of oil from the FSO Safer, a floating storage vessel abandoned and decaying off Yemen’s Red Sea coast since 2015. That operation prevented a potential environmental, humanitarian, and economic catastrophe in a region already affected by years of conflict.

The UN had warned that a spill from the Safer would have exposed millions to highly polluted air and cut off vital supplies—including food and fuel—to Yemen, where 17 million people already require food aid. Coastal communities would have been hit hardest, with hundreds of thousands of fishing industry jobs lost almost immediately. Fish stocks would have taken 25 years to recover. The UN estimated cleanup costs alone at $20 billion.

The attack on the SOUNION could now prove to be the Houthis’ most consequential to date. Since November, the group has conducted missile and drone attacks on commercial ships in the region, ostensibly in support of Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war. However, authorities have found no direct links between the MT SOUNION and the countries typically targeted by the group.

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