Houthis claim attacks on Saudi tankers in Red Sea

Then the Houthis said their ⁠forces carried out missile and drone strikes on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, identifying them as the Encelia and the Layla.A maritime security source said Encelia had transmitted a distress call, reporting it had been struck ​by a missile near the Saudi port of Jizan in the Red Sea late on Wednesday. British maritime risk management group Vanguard said the Saudi-flagged tanker was struck by an unknown projectile about 70 nautical miles southwest of Saudi Arabia’s ​Al Shuqaiq. The attack on the Layla remained unconfirmed.

Millions of barrels per day of Saudi oil have been heading to the kingdom’s Red Sea port of Yanbu to avoid the Strait of Hormuz. If shipments cannot pass through the Red Sea’s southern strait, they have only the northern route through the Suez Canal, adding weeks and costs to the journey.Moreover, the Houthi threat to impose a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia could significantly widen the war and strain a U.S. military, current and former U.S. officials said.Before the Red Sea ​flare-up, Trump vowed on Wednesday to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant every time Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s joint military command in turn warned that if Trump’s threat against infrastructure was ​carried out, Iranian forces would target regional oil, gas, electricity and economic infrastructure and prevent the export of “even a single drop of oil,” Iranian state media reported.In 12 straight days of attacks since a June ceasefire fell apart, American strikes have widened from the south to western and central areas of Iran. The U.S. military’s Central Command said it would continue to “further degrade” Iran’s ability to threaten ship traffic.

Iranian media reports said the U.S. twice on Thursday attacked a military target in Bushehr, near the country’s only operating commercial nuclear power reactor, marking three strikes there in two days.State TV reported two people were ​killed and 11 wounded in what a Khuzestan provincial official ​described as a U.S. missile attack on the ⁠Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq.

Despite triumphant statements from Washington, Iran has demonstrated it retains missile and drone capabilities.Iran pounded vital water desalination and energy plants in Kuwait this week and targeted U.S. military assets there, in Bahrain and in Jordan.
Each side has also reported an escalating human toll.An Iranian health ministry official said 53 civilians had been killed and 592 ​wounded since late last month. Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on February 28, thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced.

The U.S. military has said it ​never targets civilians, which could ⁠violate the 1949 Geneva Conventions on humanitarian conduct in war. Trump, however, has repeatedly threatened to attack civilian infrastructure, which may be targeted if it is also being used for military purposes, provided the civilian harm is not excessive.

The war has also led to the deaths of 18 U.S. service members and injured more than 450 troops. Trump attended a ceremony on Wednesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for four U.S. service members killed in Iranian attacks on military bases over the last few ⁠days — three in ​Jordan and one in Iraq.
“For me it’s one of the hardest things to do as a president. But it has to be done,” ​Trump said before leaving for the ceremony.