ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Yemen's Houthi rebels on Wednesday announced that they struck a Saudi oil tanker with ballistic missiles in the Red Sea, vowing to target all Saudi vessels seeking to avoid their ongoing maritime blockade by using alternative routes in the northern Red Sea.

"The Yemeni Armed Forces, by the grace of Allah, successfully targeted the Saudi oil tanker 'Wafa' in the northern Red Sea, off the coast of Yanbu, with a number of ballistic missiles," said Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree, hailing the strikes as "precise".

"With this latest attack, the total number of Saudi oil tankers targeted by our forces since the start of the maritime blockade on July 22nd has reached eight," he continued, adding that 29 vessels were forced to turn around and change course in the Red and Arabian Seas.

The Iran-backed militant group imposed the maritime embargo in response to alleged Saudi efforts to blockade territory controlled by the rebels, with the bombing of Sanaa International Airport in July to prevent the landing of an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation having triggered the escalation.

Despite Riyadh's denials and the fact that Yemen's internationally recognized government claimed the attack, the Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia and announced it would respond based on the premise of "an eye for an eye" and "a blockade for a blockade."

With their center of power in western Yemen, the Houthis are strategically placed to exert a degree of control over the Bab el-Mandeb strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and has proved a crucial oil export route for Riyadh amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran during its conflict with the US and Israel.

"With the seccess [sic] of the Yemeni Armed Forces, by the grace of Allah, in tightening the naval blockade on the Saudi enemy from Bab el-Mandeb in the southern Red Sea, the Saudi enemy has resorted to diverting its oil tankers towards the northern Red Sea," Saree continued in his Wednesday video statement.

"Therefore, the Yemeni Armed Forces affirm that their operations will continue and escalate in targeting Saudi oil tankers in the northern Red Sea to close all access points and prevent their passage, thus establishing a blockade-for-blockade equation, regardless of the consequences."

Reuters reported in mid-July that over 70 percent of Saudi crude exports currently occur via the port of Yanbu along the Red Sea, rendering any obstruction of access to the Indian Ocean for vessels bearing Saudi oil a stark economic threat.