One of the most important trade routes for oil tankers heading from the Middle East to Europe has come under attack.

Saudi Arabia is suspending crude shipments through a strategic red sea lane after a strike on its vessels.

Yemen's Iran-aligned rebels attacked two tankers in the waterway, and are threatening to hit Saudi ports and other Red Sea targets.

Saudi Arabia and arch-foe Iran have been locked in a three-year proxy war in Yemen, which lies on one side of the Bab al-Mandeb strait at the southern mouth of the sea.

The strait is narrow, potentially making hundreds of ships an easy target.

Houthi rebels have previously threatened to block the strait, while Iran has threatened to block another strategic shipping route, the Strait of Hormuz.

The powerful commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds force lashed out at the U.S. role in the world's top oil exporting region.

Qassem Soleimani saying the Red Sea is no longer secure with the American presence, and that Trump should know Iran is a nation of martyrdom.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates strongly back the U.S. president's decision to quit the nuclear deal with Iran.

Those two states accuse Tehran of supplying the Houthis with weapons, an accusation denied by Iran.

While it's felt the suspension is unlikely to impact crude supplies to Asia, it could raise costs for Saudi vessels heading to Europe and the U.S. and has certainly upped the ante in an already tense region.