Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement claimed responsibility on Thursday for striking two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, opening a new maritime front in the five-month-old conflict between the United States and Iran. Saudi authorities confirmed that the tanker Encelia was hit and caught fire near the port of Jizan, while the Houthis said a second vessel, the Layla, was also targeted. The attacks came as the US military completed a twelfth consecutive night of air strikes on Iranian military assets, and as Brent crude oil prices surged past $100 a barrel for the first time since May.

Viewed from Washington, the Houthi operation was a direct extension of Iranian strategy. President Donald Trump warned that any further attacks on shipping would trigger “major military punishment” against both the Houthis and Iran, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Houthis had been “suckered” into the conflict by Tehran. US Central Command stated that its strikes were designed to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels.” From Tehran, the Iranian armed forces’ spokesperson said retaliatory attacks would continue as long as US strikes on Iranian infrastructure persisted, and Iranian state media reported strikes on US bases in Kuwait and Jordan. The Houthis, for their part, described the tanker attacks as enforcement of a newly declared naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, which they said was retaliation for Riyadh’s years-long blockade on Yemen and a recent Saudi strike on Sanaa airport.

The Red Sea attacks threaten the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a chokepoint through which roughly 12 per cent of global trade and a quarter of the world’s container traffic passes. Combined with the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz — where Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have asserted control and the US Navy maintains a blockade — the new front risks severely constricting global energy supplies. Saudi Arabia had been diverting millions of barrels of crude per day through its Red Sea port of Yanbu to bypass the Hormuz closure; that alternative route is now directly endangered. Shipping data showed several tankers already changing course to avoid the area, and maritime insurers warned of rising costs.

The widening conflict has drawn in neighbouring states, with Iran striking desalination and energy plants in Kuwait and US assets in Bahrain and Jordan, while American strikes have hit targets near the Iranian city of Bushehr, home to the country’s only operating civilian nuclear power plant. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned the situation was “teetering on the edge of the unimaginable,” and European leaders cautioned that the energy shock could further fuel global inflation. Oman, a traditional mediator, said it was working to resume talks between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, but no ceasefire negotiations are publicly underway. The US has signalled that its military campaign will continue until Iran agrees to a deal, while Tehran has vowed to prevent any oil exports from the region if its own exports are blocked. The dossier remains in a state of rapid escalation, with no diplomatic off-ramp in sight.