Sana’a, Yemen. Yemen’s Houthi fighters said they struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on Thursday, widening disruption to a second major regional shipping chokepoint as US President Donald Trump threatened Iran with military action.
Tankers and shipping disruption
The Houthis, who control northern and western Yemen, said they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia. They said their forces struck the tankers Encelia and Layla.
A maritime security source said the Encelia issued a distress call after being hit by a missile near the Saudi port of Jizan. Saudi state news agency SPA reported a fire at the vessel’s bow.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the reported attack on the Layla.
Saudi Arabia has been diverting millions of barrels of oil daily by pipeline to the Red Sea to avoid Iran’s blockade at the Strait of Hormuz, according to the report.
Shipping insurance costs for transit through the southern Red Sea doubled for some companies, sources said. Several tankers changed course to avoid the strait, travelling north through the Suez Canal or taking the longer route around Africa.
Oil prices and maritime routes
Brent crude rose by more than 6% as concerns grew that disruption could extend to the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which links the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean and is the second most important energy shipping route after the Strait of Hormuz.
The number of tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz fell to one on Thursday, its lowest level since May 7. Oil prices rose above $100 a barrel for the first time since May.
Trump warning and Iran response
Trump said in a social media post that the United States would hold Iran responsible if the Houthis carried out another such attack, describing the group as an Iranian “Surrogate and/or Proxy.”
“If they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves,” Trump wrote.
He told Axios he was considering restarting major combat operations against Iran and was close to a decision, adding: “They haven’t received enough pain yet.”
Trump also said that “any and all damages” to cargo ships would be paid with “Iranian Money,” referring to frozen Iranian assets held by the United States, without specifying how this would be done.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the proposal would establish a dangerous precedent. “Seizing another nation’s assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent,” he wrote on X. “No one’s assets were safe once governments normalised such confiscation. Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful.”
Regional strikes
The Houthi attacks came as the US military carried out strikes on Iran for a 13th consecutive night.
Iranian state media reported missile strikes on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday and Friday nights. Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said four people were killed and five injured in a US missile strike on Ahvaz.
Iran said it attacked US missile systems, weapons and fuel storage sites in Jordan, as well as military posts in Kuwait.
Jordan’s army said it engaged four Iranian missiles and six drones, intercepting all but one missile, which fell in an uninhabited area.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they struck a US electronic warfare unit at Al-Adiri base in Kuwait and claimed unspecified casualties. Neither the United States nor Kuwait reported casualties at the base.
Iranian military spokesperson Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia said Iran would continue retaliating while the United States struck Iranian infrastructure and coastal areas, according to state television.
Reports of Iranian support
Four people familiar with US intelligence told Reuters that Iranian attacks on CIA targets in the Gulf earlier in the conflict had led US intelligence agencies to examine whether Russia was assisting Iran with targeting information or drone technology.
Sources in Iran and Yemen also told Reuters that Iran had flown Revolutionary Guard commanders, military advisers and missile- and drone-related equipment into Yemen days before the Houthis announced the Red Sea blockade.
The Houthis dismissed the report.
