Houthis Attack 2 Saudi Oil Tankers—How US-Iran Conflict Is Expanding

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on Thursday, threatening to open a new front in a conflict that has already upended global energy markets, as the United States conducted its 12th consecutive night of strikes against Iran with no signs of diplomatic progress in sight, the Associated Press reported.

The Houthis said they struck tankers named Encelia and Layla, causing fires on both vessels. Saudi state media confirmed the Encelia had been set ablaze while sailing overnight in the Red Sea, though no casualties were reported. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre separately said, as per AP,  it had received reports of a tanker struck by an "unknown projectile" roughly 70 nautical miles southwest of Al Shuqaiq, Saudi Arabia. The attacks would be the Houthis' first reported strikes on vessels since they announced a blockade on Saudi-linked shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait earlier this week, in retaliation for the Saudi blockade on Yemen and a recent strike on Sanaa's international airport.

US Central Command said its overnight strikes were designed to "further degrade Iran's ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters." The campaign comes as both sides have dug in over control of the Strait of Hormuz, which remains largely closed to international shipping. Through it passed a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas before the war began.

US President Donald Trump escalated his threats further on Wednesday, warning that the US would destroy one bridge or power plant for every Iranian attack on a ship in the strait. "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," he posted on social media. International law generally prohibits strikes on civilian infrastructure unless it is being used for military purposes.

No Off-Ramp in Sight

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has led negotiations with Washington, brushed off Trump's threats. "We have repeatedly said that the situation of the strait will not return to prewar conditions," he wrote on social media. Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi declared Tehran would adopt an "eye for an eye" doctrine, warning that any aggression against Iranian infrastructure would compel "a powerful and decisive response."

US strikes overnight hit locations near Ahvaz, Ramshir and Andimeshk in western Iran, with Iranian state media reporting two people killed in a strike on Shalamcheh near the Iraqi border. Iran has continued targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants providing drinking water across Gulf states in retaliation.