Cairo, Sept 15 (V7N) – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Cairo on Tuesday ahead of meetings with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as the kingdom vowed to respond to attacks by Yemen's Houthis that have threatened a key shipping route vital to both Saudi oil exports and Egypt's Suez Canal revenues.
The de facto Saudi ruler "arrived in Egypt on an official visit," reported Al-Qahera News, which is close to Egyptian intelligence services. Riyadh's foreign ministry said Sisi received the crown prince for a "working visit."
The regional powers are expected to discuss the threat posed by Houthi control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key shipping route. Last week, the Houthis seized control of Yemen's Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, threatening the last direct route to Asian markets for the world's largest oil exporter.
Bab al-Mandab, the southern gateway to the Red Sea and Egypt's Suez Canal, has become essential for Saudi oil exports this year, with the Strait of Hormuz blocked by the US-Iran war. Since the Houthis declared a naval blockade on the kingdom in July, Saudi Arabia has relied more heavily on Egypt to export oil, chiefly through its overland Sumed pipeline.
Crude is transported from the Saudi Red Sea port of Yanbu to Egypt's Ain Sokhna, and carried overland through the pipeline to the eastern Mediterranean at Sidi Kerir. But a recent drone attack, which Riyadh said was launched from Iraq, forced it to shut the East-West pipeline that feeds Yanbu, pushing global oil prices above the $100 threshold.
Disruption to Bab al-Mandab could land Egypt with heavy losses too, with Cairo reliant on Suez Canal tolls for crucial foreign revenue. Revenues from the waterway are currently around half of what they were before the Houthis started attacking ships in 2023. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said last week Cairo's Suez Canal losses stood at $11 billion.
The meeting between the Saudi crown prince and the Egyptian president comes amid growing concerns about the broader regional conflict. The Houthis have been a key ally of Iran in the Middle East war and have launched repeated attacks on Saudi territory and shipping in the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has vowed to respond to the Houthi attacks, with the kingdom's foreign ministry stating that it "reserves the right to respond to these attacks at the appropriate time and manner."
The Houthis have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, when the coalition intervened in Yemen's civil war to restore the internationally recognized government. The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. In July 2026, the Houthis broke a 2022 truce with the Saudi-backed government and launched a major offensive along Yemen's Red Sea coast, capturing key areas including the port city of Mokha and advancing toward the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
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