Houthis target Red Sea shipping
A Saudi vessel was attacked in the Red Sea as Tehran-backed Houthi rebels claimed to strike tankers in the waterway, Riyadh’s state media said Thursday, signaling a potential new front in the US-Iran conflict.
The Houthis had threatened to blockade Saudi ports on the Red Sea—a key route for oil shipments—while the five-month war had already led to the effective closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Washington and Tehran have been battling over key crude supply route Hormuz, which led to the collapse of a preliminary deal aimed at ending the war that has sent global oil prices climbing.
Missile, drone strikes
The Houthis’ claim came as the United States launched fresh strikes on Iranian military targets, prompting retaliatory attacks on US ally Kuwait in the latest round of tit-for-tat fighting.
The Houthis said they had carried out missile and drone strikes on two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, the Encelia and the Layla, after threatening to blockade Saudi ports.
British naval security monitor UKMTO said the master of a tanker reported being hit by an unknown projectile about 130 kilometers (70 nautical miles) southwest of Al Shuqaiq, causing a fire that the crew was fighting.
Saudi Arabia confirmed the Encelia had been struck, without commenting on the other tanker.
It remains unclear how fully the Houthis could enforce a blockade, but the threat could compound the shock of the Hormuz closure, endangering Riyadh’s ability to bypass the strait for some oil exports.
In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Thursday they stopped three oil tankers from transiting the waterway, as the United States and Iran vie for control over the route through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war.
“The Strait of Hormuz is under our control … and any ship that is deceived by the US and intends to pass without coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran will suffer the same fate,” Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards said in a statement.
‘Eye for an eye’
The warning appeared to defy a threat from US President Donald Trump, who said on Wednesday that the United States would bomb Iranian civil infrastructure every time Tehran fires at ships in the strategic straight.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran would respond in kind to any attack on its infrastructure.
Trump has faced intense political pressure to end the conflict, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday had cost the United States $37.5 billion, up from nearly $29 billion in mid-May.
But Trump rejected polls showing the war was unpopular as he headed to an air base for the return of the remains of four US service personnel.
Trump said he would “take care of” the Houthis if they followed through on their blockade threat against Saudi ports.
