Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed dual attacks on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea early Thursday morning as the U.S. military conducted a 12th straight night of strikes against Iran infrastructure – military and civil.
AP reports fighting for control of vital shipping lanes in the Gulf region shows no sign of lessening and if anything is now broadening with Houthi involvement opening up a new chokepoint across the Red Sea.
Energy prices are rising globally as a result as supply lines tighten for a host of other materials and oil prices hit a six-week high.
AP notes U.S. Central Command said its strikes were designed to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters,” as the Americans push to regain control over the Strait of Hormuz and restore the flow of international shipping.
U.S. strikes on Iran and Iran’s retaliatory attacks over the past two weeks. (Mehmet Yaren Bozgun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump warned earlier Wednesday one bridge or power plant will be targeted by U.S. strikes each time Iran shoots at a ship in the contested Strait of Hormuz, as Breitbart News reported.
“From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The Houthis meanwhile declared via their SABA news agency they had struck two tankers named Encelia and Layla in the Red Sea, leading to fires on both vessels.
The AP report sets out that strike would be their first reported attack on a vessel since the rebels announced Monday a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in retaliation for the kingdom’s blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on the international airport in Yemen’s rebel-held capital, Sanaa.
Demonstrators march over depictions of the flags of the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom during a rally against the Saudi-led coalition in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
The group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree said they had targeted the ships with drones and missiles for allegedly violating its naval blockade, the BBC reports.
The Houthis said they targeted the tankers with a number of ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones.
Saree added the Houthis promised to continue their naval operations and would be “enforcing the ‘siege for a siege’ equation.”