Trump threatens Iran with ‘major military punishment’ after Houthi strikes on Saudi oil tankers

US 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 US 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 US 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 US missile attack on the Iranian city of Ahvaz, state broadcaster IRIB said.

Iran hasn't received enough pain yet: Trump
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 US 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.