Houthis say they attacked tankers in Red Sea, widening war

WASHINGTON — The Houthis, a militant group in Yemen who have been threatening to open another front in the Iran war, said they had targeted two oil tankers in the Red Sea.

Minutes before the Houthi statement on Wednesday, the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Center said the master of a tanker has reported that the ship had been struck southwest of Al Shuqaiq on the Saudi Red Sea coast. Saudi Arabia didn’t immediately comment on the attack.

The Red Sea has emerged as a vital workaround for crude exports, particularly from Saudi Arabia, amid disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude oil rose sharply past $95 a barrel in post-settlement trading, and U.S. oil added as much as 1.8% in early trading Thursday to trade above $88 a barrel.

The Houthis, a clan from Yemen’s north who are backed by Iran, disrupted shipping with drone and missile attacks after Israel began its campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Those assaults ended with a truce in May 2025.

Shortly after the report on the Red Sea attacks, U.S. Central Command said it had begun more strikes on Iran, marking the 12th night of the latest phase of the American military campaign. “The mission will continue to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters,” Centcom said in a statement.

Kuwait said it was fending off an incursion of Iranian drones.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday evening.

With the conflict apparently widening, both the U.S. and Iran have shown little inclination to return to the negotiating table.

President Donald Trump said earlier Wednesday that the Islamic Republic was “getting hit so hard” following the deaths of four U.S. troops in the past week but wasn’t yet ready to sign an agreement. He earlier vowed to hit Iranian bridges and power plants if Tehran continued attacking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

“They’re not ready to make a deal because every time they make a deal, they want to change it and everything,” Trump told supporters at a rally in Georgia. “They’re not ready. They’ll be ready very soon.”

Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan — which along with Qatar has been the main mediator in the near five-month conflict — but there was no sign his meetings were productive.

“There are no negotiations — it’s only possible for there to be an exchange of messages,” a spokesman for the Iranian ministry said after the Tuesday visit, according to semi-official Mehr news agency. “Our new message is that the enemy violated the memorandum and should implement it,” he added, referring to the June 17 interim peace agreement that’s now effectively obsolete.

If the U.S. strikes bridges or power plants, “Iran will strike infrastructure and bridges in the region, including energy facilities in which the U.S. has interests,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, citing an informed military source.

The U.S. widened the scope of its airstrikes on Tuesday, with American forces hitting a military site near the northwestern city of Tabriz, according to Iranian media. That’s the first time the area is thought to have been hit since hostilities between the warring sides worsened two weeks ago.

The Iranian government activated air defenses early on Wednesday in Tehran, the capital, local media reported, adding that the U.S. struck Abdanan and Chovar in the west, near the border with Iraq.

Bond markets have reacted to the latest clashes, with U.S. 10- and 30-year Treasury yields rising to roughly two-month highs on concern inflationary pressures will prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

The economic fallout from the war, particularly high fuel prices, is weighing heavily on Americans as the November midterm elections approach. Trump has received poor marks for his handling of the economy and the conflict, polls show, putting his fellow Republicans at risk of losing control of Congress.

“It’s going to come down, maybe lower than when we even started — but just give me a little time,” Trump said Wednesday in Georgia, referring to oil prices.

The U.S. says it will intensify its bombing campaign until Iran agrees to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and cease attacks on energy tankers and other ships going through the vital waterway.

So far, Iran isn’t backing down. Tehran has insisted on maintaining control of traffic through the strait, an issue that’s scuppered progress on other contentious topics, including Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump says U.S. operations are seriously degrading Iran’s military power, even as the Islamic Republic continues firing on ships in Hormuz. Tehran is also causing extensive harm to U.S. troops and bases. Late Tuesday, the Pentagon said a 28-year-old army sergeant who had been missing was now believed to have been killed last Friday during an attack on an air base in Jordan.

Her death is the fourth U.S. fatality over the past week, with two other troops being killed in Jordan, and another dying from an attack on northern Iraq.

On Wednesday, Trump flew to Dover, Delaware, to witness the return of some of the fallen soldiers’ remains.

Iran said recent U.S. attacks had killed more than 50 people and wounded more than 500. Tehran vowed to respond with a “powerful strike” to any attack on its nuclear facilities or other sensitive infrastructure.

Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said on X that the focus on Pickaxe Mountain, one of the sites, was “a fabricated pretext for aggression.”

If the U.S. sets foot on Iranian soil, “it will face millions of people who will confront them with everything they have,” state TV cited Army Commander-in-Chief Amir Hatami as saying.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told senators on Tuesday that the war had cost Washington $37.5 billion so far.

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(With assistance from Sherif Tarek, Romy Varghese, Moira Warburton, Eltaf Najafizada, Omar Tamo, John Bowker, John Harney, Will Kubzansky and Rob Verdonck.)

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