Saturday, July 25, 2026

The Red Sea is on fire, literally. Saudi-led coalition jets struck Houthi military sites in the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah early Saturday, a response to a wave of attacks on Saudi-linked shipping after the Iran-aligned group declared a naval blockade of the Kingdom on July 20. Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Malki called it a "proportionate military response operation against legitimate military targets," and said the coalition did not target the civilian port itself (via Arab News). The strike followed Houthi missile and drone attacks on two Saudi tankers, the Encelia and the Layla, one of which was set ablaze.

The world is telling the Houthis to stand down. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanded the group immediately halt its attacks on shipping and de-escalate the widening Red Sea crisis, warning that strikes on commercial vessels endanger a waterway that carries a large share of global trade (via Arab News). The blockade is the latest front in a broader confrontation with Iran that has already thinned traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Washington is putting the blame squarely on Tehran. President Donald Trump vowed to punish Iran for the Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, framing the militia's campaign as an extension of Iranian policy rather than an independent act (via Arab News). For Riyadh, the US stance matters: it comes months after the two countries signed a civil nuclear cooperation pact and deepens an already-close security alignment.

Oil just went triple digits again. Brent crude vaulted past $100 a barrel for the first time since May, climbing more than 6 percent in a single session as Houthi attacks on Saudi tankers stoked fears that the Kingdom's Red Sea exports could be choked off; the benchmark is now up roughly 40 percent this month (via Arab News). Higher prices are a double-edged sword for Riyadh: more revenue per barrel, but only if it can keep the barrels moving.

So far, the oil is still getting out. Two Chinese supertankers carrying a combined 4 million barrels of Saudi crude slipped out of the Red Sea through the Bab al-Mandeb strait, appearing to escape the Houthi blockade even as other Saudi vessels came under fire (via Zawya). The Yanbu terminal on the Red Sea had become a crucial workaround after disruption in the Gulf, which is exactly why the militia is targeting it.

Away from the war headlines, the Kingdom's listing machine keeps humming. The Public Investment Fund, the roughly $900 billion sovereign wealth fund bankrolling Vision 2030 (the plan to wean the economy off oil), has earmarked up to eight portfolio companies for potential IPOs in 2026, from ArcelorMittal Jubail and Saudi Global Ports to events firm Sela and cloud-kitchen operator CloudKitchens (via Argaam). No deals are locked, and timing hinges on market conditions, which the Red Sea crisis has just made a lot choppier.

The money behind Saudi Arabia's AI build-out is getting serious. Humain, the PIF-owned AI champion, has tapped Goldman Sachs to advise on financing its sprawling data-centre program, according to sources, as the company chases a target of several gigawatts of compute capacity over the coming decade (via Zawya). Lining up outside capital signals the ambitions have outgrown what even a fund PIF's size wants to bankroll alone.

The Kingdom also wants homegrown startups, not just imported chips. Qualcomm, Aramco, the government's Research, Development and Innovation Authority and Humain named the cohort selected for the 2026 "Design in Saudi Arabia with AI" program, which drew more than 124 applications across AI, the internet of things and advanced wireless (via Zawya). It is a bet that Saudi Arabia can grow chip-design and hardware talent at home rather than renting it.

Expats with lapsed paperwork just got a reprieve. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development extended, until the end of 2026, the grace period for employers to fix the status of foreign workers whose work permits have been expired for more than a year, sparing many workers from immediate penalties (via Saudi Gazette). The extension lands alongside a tougher Qiwa platform rule that automatically strikes workers with long-expired permits from an employer's records.

Another quiet fix makes life easier for expat families. Under updated rules, the dependents of foreign residents and household workers can now renew their iqama, the residence permit tying a foreigner to a sponsor, from outside the Kingdom, removing a headache for families caught abroad when a permit lapses (via Saudi Gazette). Small on paper, but a real saver for the millions of foreigners who make up most of the Kingdom's workforce.

Heavyweight boxing rolls back into the Kingdom tonight. Anthony Joshua, the former two-time unified world champion, returns from a long layoff to face Albanian knockout artist Kristian Prenga at the Jeddah Superdome on July 25 in a card billed as "The Comeback," widely read as a tune-up for a long-rumored all-British showdown with Tyson Fury (via Arab News). At Friday's waterfront weigh-in Joshua scaled 251 pounds to Prenga's 261.4.

Saudi fighters get their moment on the marquee too. Three home boxers feature on the Joshua-Prenga bill, part of the Kingdom's push to turn its big-money fight nights into a platform for local talent rather than just imported stars (via Arab News). It is the same playbook that has made Riyadh and Jeddah regular stops on the global boxing calendar.

The Red Sea crisis has a Filipino dimension too. The Philippine government has flagged that more than a million overseas Filipino workers across the Middle East could be exposed as the conflict widens, with Manila drawing up contingency plans for the largest pockets of workers in the Gulf (via Philippine Daily Inquirer). Saudi Arabia hosts one of the biggest of those communities, which makes any escalation on its shipping lanes a Manila problem as much as a Riyadh one.

Repatriation flights are already in the air. The Department of Migrant Workers said it had brought home 4,241 Filipinos from the Middle East during the crisis, coordinating charter flights and welfare aid through the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration for workers who want out (via Philippine Daily Inquirer). For families back home, the message is that the door out is open, even as most OFWs in the Kingdom stay put and keep working.