A widening regional conflict across the Middle East has entered a dangerous new phase, with Iran formally announcing Thursday that it will sustain retaliatory military operations for as long as it remains under attack, as its allied Houthi movement opens a new front in the Red Sea targeting Saudi commercial shipping.
The latest escalation follows a brief multi-week ceasefire that has collapsed, reintroducing widespread uncertainty to both the region and global energy markets, as Iran and the United States engage in a high-stakes contest for control of the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz.
This week, the Iran-aligned Houthi group entered the active conflict, announcing a blockade of Saudi ports and launching strikes on two Saudi oil tankers in Red Sea waters. Parallel to this Red Sea escalation, Jordan and Kuwait have both confirmed intercepting incoming strikes, as Iran’s regular military and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have stated their operations are targeting U.S. assets positioned across both nations.
“The armed forces’ retaliatory attacks will continue as long as the U.S. attacks on the country’s infrastructure and coastal areas continue,” Iranian army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia stated in comments carried by Iran’s state television.
The latest round of open hostilities comes on the heels of fresh U.S. airstrikes on Iranian military positions. U.S. Central Command confirmed it had conducted its twelfth consecutive night of strikes, noting the operations are intended to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters.”
On Wednesday, former U.S. President Donald Trump issued an unusually explicit threat via social media, stating that the U.S. would target Iranian civilian infrastructure every time Iranian forces attack vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. “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,” Trump wrote.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reaffirmed Tehran’s commitment to proportional retaliation for any attacks on its infrastructure, writing, “Our defence doctrine is clear: eye for an eye.”
Iranian state media reported Thursday that a recent U.S. strike killed two people near Shalamcheh, located on Iran’s border with Iraq. The outlet also confirmed two U.S. missiles struck targets near Bushehr, the site of Iran’s only civilian nuclear power plant, which has been repeatedly targeted by U.S. strikes in recent weeks.
In the Red Sea theater, the Houthis confirmed they carried out combined missile and drone attacks on two Saudi-flagged oil tankers, the Encelia and the Layla, following their formal declaration of a blockade on Saudi commercial ports. UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), the British-led naval security monitoring service, reported the captain of one vessel confirmed a strike by an unidentified projectile roughly 70 nautical miles southwest of Saudi Arabia’s Al Shuqaiq, sparking a fire that the crew was working to extinguish as of Thursday.
Saudi Arabian officials have confirmed the Encelia sustained damage in the attack, but have not released any information on potential damage or casualties linked to the Layla strike.
While it remains unclear how effectively the Houthis can enforce a full-scale blockade of Saudi ports, the threat of sustained disruption to Red Sea shipping compounds existing volatility sparked by competing control of the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to undermine Riyadh’s ability to redirect oil exports away from the strait to bypass ongoing conflict.
In the Strait of Hormuz itself, the IRGC announced it has halted three oil tankers from transiting the waterway, which carried roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies prior to the outbreak of the current conflict. “The Strait of Hormuz is under our control… and any ship that is deceived by the U.S. and intends to pass without coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran will suffer the same fate,” the IRGC said in a statement.
The fresh escalation has sent global oil prices climbing sharply Thursday. Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil pricing, rose 4% to trade at $97.80 per barrel, reviving widespread market fears of accelerating consumer inflation and slowed global economic growth.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit hosted in Manila, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Iran of manipulating the Houthis into joining the conflict to disrupt Red Sea shipping. “The Houthis largely were smart and stayed out of all this throughout the conflict, but they now apparently have gotten themselves suckered into this, going after Saudi Arabia and their ships,” Rubio said. “I hope they will de-escalate, because I think the Houthis, frankly, got snookered into this thing by the Iranians.”
Oman, which has served as a key neutral mediator in the years-long conflict between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, announced Thursday it is working to restart negotiations between the two parties, while voicing “great concern” over the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Red Sea waters.