An oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia, deemed "essential" for bypassing the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, has been shut down after a fire that, according to the authorities, followed a drone attack launched from Iraq. The East-West pipeline links Abqaiq, near the Persian Gulf, to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, and is used as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz for transporting Saudi oil to the Red Sea. A statement from the Saudi foreign ministry referred to a fire near Medina, said to have caused "human and material damage". A government official in Riyadh had already told the media that people had been injured in the drone attack and the subsequent blaze. The same official said the pipeline had been shut down as a precaution.
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