Two oil tankers carrying Saudi oil to Asia backed out of the Red Sea on Tuesday after being threatened by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, as the escalating Middle East war disrupted shipping in two of the world’s most sensitive areas.
The US military bombed targets in the south and west of Iran overnight, while Iran targeted US positions in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, and a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran said it struck Amazon infrastructure in Bahrain, where the US tech company uses a regional data center. Amazon did not immediately comment and Reuters could not confirm the report.
The Houthis, who control northern and western Yemen including the coast along the Red Sea border, announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia on Monday. This opened up new opportunities in the war, which has killed thousands of people in the Gulf region since it began in Feb. 28, when the US and Israel attacked Iran.
In a letter to shippers, the Houthis threatened to attack any ships loading or unloading Saudi oil.
US President Donald Trump said the Houthis had not yet closed the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the “Gate of Tears” that connects the southern part of the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, and threatened to take action against them if they did.
“When something like that happens, we take care of it,” Trump said.
18 US service members have now been killed in action
The president also confirmed that 18 US soldiers have been killed so far, including four in Iran’s attacks on US military bases in Jordan and Iraq in the past few days, in a war that is unpopular with Americans and others affected by rising global energy costs.
The Houthis’ announcement already seems to be having an effect. Two tankers that had recently loaded Saudi crude bound for China and India at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port, Yanbu, turned around on Tuesday, heading towards the Suez Canal instead of exiting through the Bab el-Mandeb and towards the Indian Ocean.
“These developments represent the first confirmed changes in commercial tanker routes [Houthi] The embargo is also likely to increase disruptions to Saudi exports and regional shipping routes,” British maritime risk management group Vanguard said on Tuesday.
As the war closes the Strait of Hormuz from the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea has served as an alternative outlet for millions of barrels of Saudi oil a day, diverted by the pipeline through Yanbu.
Oil prices rose more than 2 percent on Tuesday, with Brent crude hovering above $91 US a barrel and US gasoline back above $4 US a liter.
Trump renews threat to strike nuclear sites
US Central Command said it hit Iranian military command centers, naval capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defense systems in its latest strikes, which have continued around the clock for more than a week and a half.
In June, CBC’s senior international reporter Margaret Evans and videographer Lyza Sale were granted rare access to report inside Iran. Where they could go and what they could report on was tightly controlled, but Iranian authorities had no editorial influence on the content and were not given access to CBC News material before it was published.
An explosion was heard in the city of Shiraz in southern Iran, state media said. Konarak and Chabahar on the southern coast and a residential area outside the town of Abdanan in the west were attacked, media reports said.
On Tuesday, Trump renewed his threats to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities in Natanz “soon.” In June 2025 he said the facility, buried in the mountains, was “completely destroyed” after the US military bombed it that month. Iran has vowed to retaliate.
Fifty civilians have been killed and 500 injured in recent US strikes in Iran, a health ministry official said.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told lawmakers during the hearing that the conflict, which Congress did not authorize, has cost $37.5 billion so far, and he asked them to approve another $70 billion in “surge” funds, in part to replenish depleted missile supplies.
Test limits for climbing
The US and Iran have been testing the limits of escalation since the collapse this month of a weeks-long interim ceasefire agreement.
Iran launched a renewed offensive on Tuesday across the Persian Gulf, where recent strikes on desalination plants have raised concerns about water shortages in desert countries that depend almost entirely on desalination for drinking purposes.
Kuwait said it was responding to drone and missile attacks on Tuesday. Kuwait has reported attacks that have damaged power generation in recent days at plants that produce fresh water.
Iranian media reported that Iranian forces have resumed attacks on US military bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
The UKMTO maritime security agency said on Tuesday that a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz reported that it had been hit by a projectile, forcing its crew to leave the ship and board a rescue boat.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also said two oil tankers were on fire after an explosion while trying to pass through the southern shipping lane of the strait.
The US encouraged ships to use the southern route. Iran wants them to use an alternative northern route near its coast, where it eventually intends to charge transit fees.
Just four cargo ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, mostly using the northern shipping lane near Iran’s coast, down from seven the previous day, intelligence firm Kpler said.
Saudi Arabia has partially escaped naval disruption by pumping oil into the Red Sea instead. But a complete shutdown of that alternative route by the Houthis would further reduce global oil shipments as it would leave Saudi oil sales stranded.
