Footage circulating on social media shows a tanker engulfed in flames after a combined Houthi missile and drone assault.

By World Israel News Staff

The Iran-backed Houthi terrorist group launched a missile and drone attack on two Saudi oil tankers transiting the Red Sea late Wednesday, marking a significant escalation in regional tensions as the United States continued its military campaign against Iran for a 12th consecutive night.

Videos circulating on social media appeared to show a massive explosion aboard one of the vessels, with at least one tanker engulfed in flames following the strike.

The attack came amid mounting concerns that Tehran would activate its regional proxy forces to expand the conflict beyond Iran’s borders. Intelligence assessments in recent days had suggested the Houthis could seek to disrupt shipping through the Red Sea, compounding the impact of ongoing instability in the Strait of Hormuz—another vital artery for global energy supplies.

Earlier this week, the Houthis announced they were imposing a blockade on Saudi shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the strategic maritime chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The group said the move was retaliation for a recent Saudi airstrike targeting an airport in Yemen.

The Bab el-Mandeb is one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes, with roughly 12 percent of global seaborne oil trade passing through the corridor each year. Any sustained disruption to traffic through the strait could place additional pressure on global energy markets and international shipping.

Late Wednesday, the Houthis followed through on their threat, launching what they described as a combined missile and drone attack against two Saudi oil tankers.

“We targeted two Saudi oil tankers, named Encelia and Layla, for their violation of the blockade decision issued by the armed forces,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a media statement shortly after the incident.

In the early hours of Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) confirmed that the tanker Encelia had been struck while transiting the Red Sea.

The vessel was hit “while sailing in the Red Sea,” the agency said.

“These attacks constitute a violation of international laws and conventions that guarantee the safety of commercial vessels and their crews,” the SPA added, noting that all crew members aboard the Encelia were confirmed safe.

Saudi authorities did not immediately provide an update on the condition of the second vessel, the Layla, or whether it had sustained damage.

The post Escalation: Houthis strike Saudi oil tankers in Red Sea appeared first on World Israel News.

According to S&P Global, Wednesday saw 78 transits, the most since the war began, but still below the daily prewar average of 130 or more.

By The Associated Press

Several tankers made their way out of the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday using a new route promoted by a U.N. maritime agency.

Iran has threatened vessels using the path, which runs along the coast of Oman.

The opening of an alternative passage through the vital waterway would relieve pressure on the world economy and remove Iran’s main source of leverage in ongoing peace talks with the United States.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a visit to the Gulf to reassure American allies, said Washington was committed to the new route.

Traffic through the strait has increased but is still well below prewar levels.

Oil on Thursday briefly dipped below its last prewar price of just under $73 per barrel, a sign that the market believes the situation is improving.

The two sides are still debating terms of an interim peace deal — from getting ships through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf to the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed last week, the U.S. and Iran have 60 days to iron out the details.

As talks are held behind closed doors, U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders have seemed to negotiate in public, trading threats and claiming concessions the other side denies.

Meanwhile, a flare-up of fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants threatened the wider truce. Lebanon says five people have people been killed by Israeli strikes over the past two days.

More ships are passing through the strait, but far fewer than before the war

Oil tankers, led by the Stoic Warrior vessel, sailed along the United Arab Emirates and then Oman early Thursday, passing by Oman’s Musandam Peninsula fairly close to the shore.

The route was laid out by Oman and the International Maritime Organization, a U.N. agency.

North of the route is a corridor in the center of the strait where ships had moved through freely before the war, transporting about a fifth of all the world’s oil and natural gas.

Iran said it mined that passage after the U.S. and Israel attacked it on Feb. 28. At least one mine has been sighted there.

Though some ships had been getting out of the strait, with U.S. military support, the U.N. agency’s effort is the latest to free trapped vessels.

The shipping company Maersk said its container ship, the Maersk Baltimore, and another chartered vessel made it out on Thursday.

Last week, 125 vessels crossed the strait, up from 33 the week before, according to marine data and analysis firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

According to S&P Global, Wednesday saw 78 transits, the most since the war began, but still below the daily prewar average of 130 or more.

“Opportunistic operators — and there are many of them — emboldened by the lower transit risk, or at least the perceived lower transit risk, have begun chasing the backlog of trapped cargoes,” said Richard Meade, editor-in-chief at Lloyd’s List.

Iran says the new shipping route is ‘unacceptable’

The naval arm of the Revolutionary Guard, apparently reacting to the new shipping route and increased traffic, issued a warning Thursday, carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.

It said the new route was established without notice or coordination with Iran, calling it “unacceptable and completely dangerous.”

“The only authorized route for passing through the Strait of Hormuz is the one declared by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Iranian force said.

“Vessel traffic outside these routes is extremely dangerous and prohibited.”

“Violators will be dealt with,” it added, without elaborating.

There were no immediate reports of any incidents in the strait. On Wednesday, the Guard threatened one tanker over the radio, with a soldier warning, “You are in range of my missiles and maybe (I) fire on you,” according to the private security firm Ambrey.

Rubio says the US will ensure there are no tolls on ships

Rubio met with foreign ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to assure them that their interests would be protected in any agreement with Iran.

Those countries, including major energy producers reliant on the strait for exports, came under attack by Iran after the start of the war.

“There is no part in this deal that’s undertaken that in any way undermines the security, the stability or the prosperity of any of our partners in the Gulf region,” Rubio said at the meeting in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

He later told journalists the U.S. and Gulf allies would ensure there would be no fees charged on ships moving through the strait.

He said the U.S. wanted to make sure the Oman route continued for ships to transit the strait. “If that stops, then we’re going to have a problem,” Rubio said.

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani thanked the U.S. for its support, saying that because of the agreement, “today we see a glimmer of hope for our region” but stressed that it was “critically important that Iran adheres to its obligations.”

The post Oil tankers use new route through Strait of Hormuz despite Iranian threats appeared first on World Israel News.

For nearly three months, the sailors trapped in the Gulf have led isolated lives, each with a small group of shipmates, moving between tiny living quarters, communal dining areas, and scorching, sun-baked decks.

By Reuters and The Algemeiner

Iran’s publication of a new map asserting its control over the Strait of Hormuz risks extending an already punishing ordeal for thousands of mariners trapped on ships in the Gulf.

More than 20,000 sailors are stuck on around 2,000 vessels in the Gulf, many of them unable to leave ship, lacking adequate supplies of food and fresh water, and fearful of an uncertain future at sea in a war zone.

Sailors interviewed by Reuters in recent weeks have described the hardships and anxieties of their experience, and a federation representing them warns of dire conditions.

“The only thing we do here is plan how to spend the night and pray to God that we do not get hit during an attack,” Indian sailor Salman Siddiqui said by phone from his stranded ship last month.

ISOLATED LIVES

When Reuters traveled on a resupply boat to vessels moored off the Saudi coast this week, sailors on a tanker gathered by the handrail to wave, a rare moment of contact with the outside world.

For nearly three months, the sailors trapped in the Gulf have led isolated lives, each with a small group of shipmates, moving between tiny living quarters, communal dining areas, and scorching, sun-baked decks.

Tehran closed the strait, a global oil supply route, after US-Israeli attacks on Iran began on February 28.

Thousands of ships were trapped in the Gulf and, with peace negotiations stalled, Iran is doubling down on the effective blockade.

The Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a body Iran has set up to manage requests for passage, published a map on Wednesday reaffirming Tehran’s claims to a wide stretch of water along either side of the choke point.

Shipowners seeking to extricate their vessels—and often precious cargoes—must navigate a labyrinthine system of payments and permissions set up by Iran, a Reuters report showed.

“Seafarers’ vulnerability and exposure is more, let’s say, extreme because of the war,” said Mohamed Arrachedi, network coordinator for the Arab World and Iran at the International Transport Workers’ Federation.

He described cases where there had been pay delays, refusals to help repatriate sailors, a lack of provisions and the fear of missiles and drone strikes. Some seafarers called him in tears, he said.

The ITF has been contacted by more than 2,000 sailors in the Gulf seeking help or advice to resolve disputes ranging from abandonment and pay delays to lack of supplies since the war began, he said.

STUCK AT SEA

From the Saudi port of Dammam, about seven large ships were visible, moored out at sea—an unusually large number in normal times.

As the resupply ship bobbed alongside the tanker in a stiff wind, the sailors aboard called out across the water while they winched aboard large sacks of medical goods.

Mohit Kohli, the captain of a large cargo vessel caught in the Gulf when the war began after sailing from Singapore, said that when he first heard the Strait could be closed, he “could not even fathom that this was remotely possible.”

His German-owned ship managed to secure a safe anchor off Dammam, but just over a week into the war the crew started to see and hear the missiles and drones Iran was directing at Gulf states.

“The crew, who was usually loud and happy, was now silent. Meals got shorter. Conversations were more guarded,” he said, describing the atmosphere on board in a Reuters interview this month after his return to India.

Kohli and his shipmates were on a ship whose owners helped bring in a relief crew, he said.

Many sailors face far worse, Arrachedi said. In some of the cases he is dealing with, sailors have not been paid their meager salaries of $100 to $200 a month since last year and shipowners are refusing to help them return home or only doing so if they forfeit back pay, he said.

Some sailors say they have only a single meal of rice or lentils each day and have only brief moments of internet connection to contact loved ones or seek outside help, Arrachedi added.

“They need a collective intervention because they are key for our economies, for the supply chains, but also because they are active seafarers and they are civilians,” he said.

Gulf states are making some efforts to assist sailors by facilitating supplies and crew transfers.

“Seafarers stuck on a vessel in uncertain waters, the most important thing in the world is knowing that there is a shore open to reach,” said Suliman Almazroua, president of the Saudi Ports Authority.

The authority has helped hundreds of vessels resupply with food, fresh water, fuel, and medicines and has aided more than 500 sailors to transfer from their ships, Almazroua said, describing messages of thanks from sailors he has helped leave as the most rewarding part of his job.

The post Iran’s intensified closure of Strait of Hormuz piles misery on stranded sailors appeared first on World Israel News.

TankerTrackers.com reported vessels were forced to turn around in the strait, including an Indian-flagged supertanker, after they were fired on by Iran.

By The Associated Press

Iran reversed its decision to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and fired on a tanker attempting to pass the waterway on Saturday.

It also warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.

Confusion over the critical chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy and push the two countries toward renewed conflict, even as mediators expressed confidence a new deal was within reach.

Iran’s joint military command said on Saturday that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state … under strict management and control of the armed forces.”

Two gunboats from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard opened fire on a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.

It reported the tanker and crew as safe, without identifying the vessel or its destination.

TankerTrackers.com reported vessels were forced to turn around in the strait, including an Indian-flagged supertanker, after they were fired on by Iran.

Saturday’s developments came after U.S. President Donald Trump said the blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S. that includes its nuclear program. Tehran had reopened the strait Friday to commercial vessels.

Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strait and further limits would squeeze an already constrained supply, driving prices higher once again.

Iran’s Friday announcement about the opening of the crucial body of water, through which 20% of the world’s oil is shipped, came as a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon appeared to hold.

Despite the escalation, Pakistani officials say the United States and Iran are still moving closer to a deal ahead of the April 22 ceasefire deadline.

The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, nearly 2,300 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel, and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.

The post Iranian gunboats fire on tanker in Strait of Hormuz as Tehran reimposes restrictions appeared first on World Israel News.