By Elwely Elwelly, Ahmed Elimam and Eman Abouhassira
DUBAI, July 24 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump promised “major military punishment” for Iran and its Houthi allies after the Yemeni fighters struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint.
Fears that disruption could widen to block another sea route sent global oil prices surging in one of the steepest rises of the war. Brent crude rose more than 6%, piercing the level of $100 a barrel for the first time since May.
Two weeks since the effective collapse of an interim truce meant to end the war, the U.S. military launched air strikes on Iran late on Thursday and early on Friday, for a 13th consecutive night of attacks, prompting Iran to fire at neighbouring Arab countries that host U.S. bases.
On both Thursday and Friday nights, Iranian state media said missiles struck Qeshm Island on the Strait of Hormuz, the virtually closed waterway that is the focus of a war well into its fifth month that has killed thousands and fanned fears of a global economic downturn.
Four people were killed and five injured in a U.S. missile attack on the Iranian city of Ahvaz, state broadcaster IRIB said.
TRUMP: IRAN HASN’T ‘RECEIVED ENOUGH PAIN YET’
After the Houthis said they had struck the two tankers on Thursday, Trump said he would hold Iran accountable for any further attacks by the fighters.
The Houthis, who control northern and western Yemen, said they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, which has diverted millions of barrels of oil each day by pipeline to the Red Sea to skirt Iran’s blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
“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 on social media.
He told Axios he was considering re-launching major combat operations in Iran and was close to a decision.
“They haven’t received enough pain yet,” the news outlet quoted Trump as saying.
On social media, Trump said “any and all damages done” to cargo ships would be paid for with “Iranian Money,” referring to frozen Iranian assets held by the United States, but without saying how.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arachi responded with a warning on X, saying, “Seizing another nation’s assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent.”
No one’s assets were safe once governments normalised such confiscation, he added on Friday. “Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful.”
Sources in Iran and Yemen told Reuters that Iran had flown Revolutionary Guard commanders, military advisers and missile- and drone-related equipment into Yemen days before the Houthis announced their blockade. The Houthis dismissed the report.
The Houthis said their forces had carried out missile and drone strikes on Saudi oil tankers, the Encelia and the Layla.
A maritime security source said the Encelia sent a distress call that it had been struck by a missile near the Saudi port of Jizan in the Red Sea just north of Yemen on Wednesday. Saudi state news agency SPA said the strike caused a fire at the bow.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the attack on the Layla, or other battlefield accounts, but Trump mentioned two attacks on Saudi tankers.
Shipping insurance costs through the southern Red Sea doubled for some companies on Thursday, after the reported attacks, sources said.
Houthi attacks could close the strait known as the Bab el-Mandeb or “Gate of Tears” which controls access from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, the second most important route for energy shipments after the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf.
In the days since they unveiled their blockade in the Red Sea, several tankers have changed course to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb.
Instead, they have headed north through the Suez Canal, potentially using a much longer and more expensive route to reach Asian customers by sailing around Africa.
The number of tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz fell to just one on Thursday, its lowest since May 7, shiptracking data showed.
IRAN REPORTS STRIKES ON JORDAN, KUWAIT
Iran said it attacked U.S. missile systems, weapons and fuel storage sites in Jordan, as well as U.S. military posts in Kuwait.
Jordan’s army said it engaged four Iranian missiles and six drones in the past day, intercepting all but one missile, which fell in an uninhabited area.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they struck a U.S. electronic warfare unit at Al-Adiri base in Kuwait, causing unspecified casualties, in response to an overnight strike on Iran’s Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq.
Neither the United States nor Kuwait has reported casualties at the base.
Iranian military spokesperson Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia said Iran would keep retaliating as long as the U.S. continued to attack its infrastructure and coastal areas, Iranian state TV reported.
Since the U.S. and Israel began the war in February, Iran has demonstrated that it can hit U.S. targets in the region, despite Trump having said early on that the U.S. had wiped out Iranian military capabilities.
Four people familiar with U.S. intelligence said Iranian strikes on CIA targets in the Gulf earlier in the war had prompted U.S. intelligence to investigate whether Russia was assisting Iran with targeting information or drone technology.
CONGRESS
High oil prices are stoking inflation globally, putting Trump’s Republican allies under pressure ahead of congressional elections in November.
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives backed legislation on Thursday directing Trump to halt U.S. military action against Iran, for the latest rebuke by Congress, which has the exclusive power to “declare War” under the U.S. Constitution.
Repeated similar resolutions passed in recent months have not led to cessation of the war. The Senate voted hours later to block a separate, similar measure.
(Additional reporting by Yomna Ehab, Enas Alashray and Ahmed Tolba; Doina Chiacu in Washington; and Michael Martina in Manila; Writing by Andrew Heavens, Jonathan Allen and Clarence Fernandez; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani, Cynthia Osterman and XXXX)
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