US strikes Iran from south to north after Trump threats over Red Sea shipping

Dubai. US missiles struck targets across Iran, reaching as far as its Caspian coast, on Friday after President Donald Trump vowed “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen for extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint, the mouth of the Red Sea.

Two weeks after the collapse of an interim truce intended to end the war, Iran’s armed forces responded by firing at US bases in neighbouring Arab countries and warning people there that they could strike non-military buildings used by US personnel.

The Houthis, who control northern and western Yemen, have announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, which has been diverting millions of barrels of oil each day through pipelines to the Red Sea to bypass Iran’s near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

The entrance to the Gulf has so far been the focus of a war that has killed thousands over nearly five months, fuelled global inflation and increased fears of an economic downturn.

Red Sea attacks affect markets

Houthi fighters struck two Saudi tankers on Thursday in the Red Sea’s Bab el-Mandeb strait, pushing oil prices up by 7 percent to above $100 per barrel for the first time since May.

Although Brent crude futures fell by almost 3 percent to below $98 on Friday, the contract remained on course for a weekly gain of more than 10 percent.

The attacks forced several other tankers to turn around and head north through the Suez Canal, potentially taking a much longer and more expensive route to reach Asia by sailing around Africa.

Shipping insurance costs through the southern Red Sea doubled for some companies on Thursday, according to sources.

However, half of the 18 ships exiting Bab el-Mandeb on Thursday were carrying crude oil, including two Chinese supertankers. The number of tankers crossing through the Strait of Hormuz fell to just one on Thursday, the lowest level since May 7.

Mr Trump wrote on social media that he would hold Iran accountable for any further attacks by Yemeni fighters, warning that “major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis themselves”.

He told Axios that he was considering restarting major combat operations against Iran.

“They haven’t received enough pain yet,” he was quoted as saying by the US news outlet.

Iranian state media reported that missiles had struck Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

In another example of how shipping disruptions caused by the conflict are affecting other countries, Coca-Cola sales in Iran — where the drink is mostly sold in aluminium cans — have fallen by more than 10 percent as the conflict disrupts supply chains, according to sources.

Iran warns Gulf states of more strikes

The Iranian Army said it had attacked US military equipment depots at Al-Adiri, officially known as Camp Buehring, in northern Kuwait, as well as positions occupied by US troops at Camp Arifjan and Camp Doha near Kuwait City.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had significantly damaged a surveillance tower used by the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

They also claimed to have attacked US barracks and fighter jets in Jordan, as well as a US barracks, spy balloon and Patriot air defence systems in Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdish region, according to semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Jordan’s army said it had intercepted seven Iranian missiles and six drones, state television reported, adding that the attack caused no material damage or casualties.

There was no immediate comment from US Central Command (CENTCOM).

US missiles struck a Revolutionary Guards Navy headquarters in the Ziba Kenar area of Iran’s Caspian Sea province of Gilan, according to a security official in Gilan quoted by Iranian media.

Provincial authorities said US projectiles had also struck the port city of Bandar Anzali, according to the ILNA news agency.

Four people were killed and five injured in a US attack on the Iranian city of Ahvaz, Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported.

In a statement carried by Iran’s Fars news agency, the Revolutionary Guards warned populations in Gulf countries of possible strikes against US military personnel who may be using “buildings in cities as locations to direct their crimes”.

It urged people to “immediately move away from areas within a 500-metre radius of covert and hidden locations used by US military personnel”.

Since the US and Israel began the war in February, Iran has demonstrated that it can strike US targets in the region, despite President Trump’s claim that Washington had destroyed Iran’s military capabilities.

Four people familiar with US intelligence said Iranian strikes on CIA targets in the Gulf earlier in the war had prompted US intelligence officials to investigate whether Russia was assisting Iran with targeting information or drone technology.

The Kremlin on Thursday declined to comment on the report.