The United States has unleashed another round of strikes on Iranian military sites, extending a dangerous regional fight into its 13th consecutive night of open combat.
The new barrage followed a sharp escalation a night earlier, when Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen widened the conflict by attacking oil tankers in Red Sea shipping lanes. US Central Command (CENTCOM), however, did not directly refer to the rebel blockade when it announced the latest operation.
Iranian state media said US missiles struck Ahvaz, a city in the country’s southwest, while blasts were reported in nearby Omidiyeh, the port city of Bandar Abbas and Qeshm island, which sits on the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM said the strikes were intended to “hold Iran accountable and diminish threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to commercial shipping”.
US President Donald Trump said Washington would make Iran answer for the Houthis’ actions, warning that both Tehran and the Yemeni rebel group would soon face a “major military punishment”.
Mr Trump also pledged to use frozen Iranian assets to cover any shipping damage. Tehran pushed back, calling the threat an “incendiary precedent”.
“Seizing another nation’s assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X.
The global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 7% and climbed above $100 a barrel for the first time since May, as world leaders voiced mounting concern over the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
“The situation is getting out of control. It is teetering on the edge of the unimaginable,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned.
“One crisis feeds another. One escalation triggers the next,” he told a meeting of the UN Security Council.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde cautioned that “the energy shock could intensify further” and drive inflation higher, fuelling expectations of a possible eurozone interest rate rise in September.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius warned of “dire consequences” for economies dependent on imported oil and said “nothing – absolutely nothing – suggests that a ceasefire, let alone peace, could be reached”.
The fighting resumed this month after a ceasefire that survived only a few weeks, plunging the region back into turmoil as Iran and the US fought for control of the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.
“The armed forces’ retaliatory attacks will continue as long as the US attacks on the country’s infrastructure and coastal areas continue,” Iran’s army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia said, according to state television.
Yemen’s Houthis entered the conflict this week, announcing a blockade of Saudi ports and claiming attacks on tankers.
Jordan and Kuwait both said they had intercepted strikes, while Iran’s military and Revolutionary Guards claimed they were targeting US assets in both countries.
In a late-night social media post, Mr Trump said the US would begin drawing on frozen Iranian assets “that the United States has in its possession, and controls” to pay for “any and all damages done to Ships, Cargo or anything related” in the region.
Conflict deepens unease in US
Even as Mr Trump returns to wartime footing and hard-edged rhetoric, the conflict is becoming increasingly unpopular with Americans at home.
With November’s midterm elections approaching, the US House of Representatives approved a symbolic measure, supported by opposition Democrats and a small number of Republicans, urging the president to end the war.
Kuwait, meanwhile, reported a drone attack on one of its border posts with Iraq, saying there were no casualties.
The emirate later said its air defences were “intercepting hostile missile and drone attacks following the wrongful Iranian aggression”.
The Houthis said they had launched missile and drone attacks on two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, the Encelia and the Layla, after declaring their blockade of Saudi ports.
Houthi rebels have threatened to blockade Saudi ports (File image)
UKMTO, the British naval security monitor, said the master of a tanker reported being struck by an unidentified projectile about 70 nautical miles southwest of Al Shuqaiq, sparking a fire.
Saudi Arabia confirmed the Encelia had been hit but did not comment on the second tanker.
The emerging danger in the Red Sea threatens to deepen the disruption caused by the closure of Hormuz, jeopardising Riyadh’s ability to route some oil exports around the strait.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had prevented three oil tankers from passing through Hormuz, as they contest control with the US Navy over a corridor that once carried about one fifth of the world’s oil.
The number of tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz dropped to just one yesterday, the lowest level since 7 May, according to shiptracking data. The very large crude carrier New Giant, carrying 2 million barrels of Iraqi Basrah crude, left the strait and is expected to reach China’s Rizhao port by mid-August.
On the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit in Manila, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Houthis had been “suckered” by Iran into striking Red Sea shipping.
“The Houthis largely were smart and stayed out of all this throughout the conflict, but they now apparently have gotten themselves suckered into this, going after Saudi Arabia and their ships,” Rubio said.
Oman, a key mediator in the long-running war between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, said it was trying to restart talks between the two sides, while expressing “great concern” over events in the Red Sea.
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