By Yomna Ehab and Enas AlashrayThursday July 23, 2026
Boats float near the coast of Bab el-Mandeb, Yemen April 2, 2026. REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Yemen’s Iranian-aligned Houthi movement said on Thursday it had attacked two Saudi oil tankers, escalating its declared naval blockade of Saudi Arabia and raising the prospect of a second major bottleneck for global crude supplies alongside Iran’s near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
At the same time, the U.S. military launched another round of attacks on Iran at President Donald Trump’s direction, extending American operations to a 12th consecutive night and drawing fresh retaliation from Tehran.
Iran said it attacked U.S. missile systems, weapons and fuel storages in Jordan, as well as U.S. military posts in Kuwait including Al-Adiri Camp, Ali Al Salem Air Base, Doha Camp and Arifjan Camp.
Iran’s almost complete blockade of the Strait of Hormuz had already fueled inflation worldwide, lifting oil prices and pressuring U.S. gasoline consumers. The rising costs come as the unpopular war places Trump’s Republican allies under increasing strain ahead of November’s congressional elections, even before the latest danger to Red Sea shipping.
The Houthis, who hold territory near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the other end of the Arabian Peninsula from Hormuz, announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia on Monday. Some analysts have interpreted the step as an Iranian tactical effort to gain leverage.
Shipping was already beginning to adjust. Five tankers altered course in the Red Sea on Wednesday to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, while three tankers carrying Saudi crude for China and India turned around on Tuesday.
The Houthis said they fired missiles and drones at two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, naming the vessels as the Encelia and the Layla.
Saudi state news agency SPA, citing an official source, said the Encelia was hit and a fire broke out at its bow. The reported attack on the Layla had not been confirmed.
A maritime security source said the Encelia issued a distress signal late on Wednesday, reporting that a missile had struck it near Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Jizan.
Saudi Arabia has been routing millions of barrels of oil a day to its Red Sea terminal at Yanbu to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. But if vessels are unable to transit the southern Red Sea strait, the only alternative is the northern route via the Suez Canal, a longer and more expensive journey that can add weeks.
Current and former U.S. officials said a Houthi effort to enforce a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia could sharply broaden the conflict and further stretch the U.S. military.
Shipping data showed that two Chinese very large crude carriers, carrying a combined 4 million barrels of Saudi Arabian oil, were sailing toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Thursday.
TRUMP THREATENS INFRASTRUCTURE
Before tensions intensified in the Red Sea, Trump said on Wednesday that the United States would destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant every time Iran fired on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s joint military command responded by warning that, should Trump carry out the infrastructure threat, its forces would strike regional oil, gas, electricity and economic facilities and halt the export of “even a single drop of oil,” Iranian state media said.
Hours afterward, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said an explosion had occurred on what they described as a mined route south of the Strait of Hormuz. One of three oil tankers caught fire and the other two reversed course, the Guards said. They declared the waterway under Iranian control and “completely closed,” warning that tankers could not enter or leave without coordinating with Iran.
American attacks have expanded from southern Iran into western and central parts of the country during 12 consecutive days of operations since a June ceasefire collapsed. U.S. Central Command said it would continue working to “further degrade” Iran’s ability to menace shipping traffic.
Iranian media said U.S. forces struck a military target in Bushehr twice on Thursday, near Iran’s only operating commercial nuclear power reactor. The reported attacks brought the total there to three in two days.
State television said two people were killed and 11 injured in what a Khuzestan provincial official called a U.S. missile strike on the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq.
Although Washington says it has destroyed Iran militarily, Tehran has shown it still possesses missile and drone capabilities.Iran struck key water desalination and energy facilities in Kuwait this week, as well as U.S. military targets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.Each side has also reported a mounting human toll.
An Iranian health ministry official said 53 civilians had been killed and 592 wounded since late last month. Thousands have died and millions have been displaced since the U.S. and Israel began the war on February 28.
The U.S. military says it does not target civilians, which could violate the 1949 Geneva Conventions on humanitarian conduct in war. Trump has nevertheless repeatedly threatened strikes on civilian infrastructure, which may be targeted when it is also used for military purposes, provided civilian harm is not excessive.
The conflict has killed 18 U.S. service members and wounded more than 450 troops. Trump attended a ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday for four U.S. personnel killed in Iranian attacks on military bases in recent days — three in Jordan and one in Iraq.
“For me it’s one of the hardest things to do as a president. But it has to be done,” Trump said before departing for the ceremony.Later, speaking in Georgia, Trump adopted a markedly different description of the conflict: “I call it a skirmish.”
Reporting by Yomna Ehab, Enas Alashray and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo; Additional reporting by Ahmed Elimam in Dubai, Rick Noak in Islamabad, Susan Heavey and Kanishka Singh in Washington and Michael Martina in Manila; Writing by Daniel Trotta and Stephen Coates; Editing by Andrei Khalip, Nia Williams and Lincoln Feast.
