Iran strikes U.S. jets after Trump promises war to end after midterms

What to know about the Iran war today: 

Several U.S. fighter jets at a Jordanian military base were damaged in Iranian strikes on Wednesday, sources tell CBS News. Iran’s state media had previously said Tehran targeted U.S. assets across the region in retaliation for American attacks on Iranian oil tankers.President Trump said Wednesday that Iran is desperate to affect the midterm elections and mused that the conflict would end right afterward. “I think the war will end immediately after the election, because they can’t hold out any longer,” he told reporters.The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, hit $101 per barrel Wednesday, its highest level since late May, as the U.S. and Iran’s standoff over the Strait of Hormuz flared up again with new attacks. According to a Goldman Sachs analysis, the price could rise above $120 a barrel.

Hegseth says “the devastation done to Iranian military capabilities is historic in proportions”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview with 60 Minutes that will air Sunday that “the devastation done to Iranian military capabilities is historic in proportions.”

Asked by CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell about what victory will look like in Iran to the American people, Hegseth added that “we have all the control in the world about what this outcome looks like, and the president has put us in a fantastic position.”

The interview comes as part of a story of a U.S. Air Force officer shot down in Iran in April, who spoke publicly for the first time to 60 Minutes about his experience alone for two days in the mountains of Iran, which will air Sunday. 

Houthis have taken key Red Sea city, local residents say

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have entered Yemen’s strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha, two local residents told The Associated Press on Thursday.

If confirmed, the development would be significant because taking the city would put the Houthis closer to their goal of targeting ships transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial waterway linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean and an important route for Saudi Arabian oil exports.

A Yemeni military source told the AFP news agency earlier on Thursday that the Houthis had taken the city.

Mokha was long held by forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government. A takeover of the port by the Houthis would be a major blow to the government forces.

A Mokha resident, Amin al-Mohammdi, said the Houthis have entered the city and fanned out across various street intersections. All roads from the west coast leading to Mokha have been closed, and shops were shut in the city, he said. Another resident of the city, Mohamed Salem, reported seeing vehicles belonging to Houthi forces in the streets.

The AP couldn’t independently verify that claim, but the Houthis have been trying to close in on Mokha amid the ongoing escalation with the government forces.

CBS/AP

Houthis seize strategic city on Red Sea, Yemeni military source tells AFP news agency

Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized control of the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha on Thursday and were advancing toward the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a Yemeni military source told the AFP news agency.

Witnesses said they saw rebel forces entering the city while chanting “death to America, death to Israel.”

Fighting in Yemen reignited last week, when the Houthis launched a major campaign to seize territory near the strategic strait.

CBS/AFP

Senior military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader says “American warmongering” has shifted global power to the East

The senior military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader said Thursday that “American warmongering” has shifted the weight of global power to the East.

In a post on X, Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi wrote: “American warmongering was the best accelerator for transferring the weight of power and economic geography to the East.”

“Pretending to conquer is a sign of defeat and acceptance of the multipolarization of power and international security,” he added.

Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, hasn’t been seen in public since he took over from his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes on the first day of the war, Feb. 28. Mojtaba was reportedly gravely wounded in the same strikes.

Houthis claim Saudi forces hit Yemen with new airstrikes

A media outlet controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claims Saudi-backed forces launched airstrikes on several areas in Yemen on Thursday.

Al-Masirah TV said the forces launched 40 strikes in the Taiz, Jawf, Hodeida and Marib provinces.

The Associated Press couldn’t immediately independently verify the Houthis’ claim as fighting with Yemeni government forces has intensified this week. There was no immediate comment from the Saudi-backed forces.

Warnings have been growing about a major escalation as the Houthis clash with Yemeni government forces and attack oil facilities and utilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia.

Among them, one from the Saudis that the Reuters news agency says Pakistan delivered to Tehran to rein in the Houthis.

Reuters cited Saudi, Pakistani and Iranian sources for its report.

CBS/AP

Several U.S. fighter jets damaged in Iranian strikes on military base in Jordan, sources say

Multiple American military aircraft were damaged in Iranian strikes that occurred overnight Tuesday into Wednesday local time on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, people with direct knowledge of the matter told CBS News. 

Roughly eight F-15s sustained light damage and were reportedly placed back into service, according to the people familiar with the damage, who spoke to CBS News under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

One A-10 Thunderbolt, known as the Warthog, was struck and was missing a wing, the sources said. 

No U.S. deaths have been reported in the strikes on Jordan. 

The overnight damage came after the U.S. said Tuesday it attacked five Iranian tankers in retaliation for Iran targeting a U.S. Navy warship. In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it launched attacks at eight tankers and two warships, including the base in Jordan. 

U.S. forces in Jordan launched more than 30 Patriot missiles defending against the Iranian strikes in Jordan, CBS News learned. 

CBS News previously reported that U.S. officials are concerned over the rapidly declining stockpile of Patriot missiles among other types of precision munitions. 

Iran-backed Houthis launch 2nd day of attacks on Saudi Arabia, Saudi spokesperson says

Yemen’s Houthi militant group launched missiles and drones at three cities in southwestern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, according to a spokesperson for a Saudi-led anti-Houthi coalition.

It marks the second day of apparent strikes by the Houthis, which are backed by Iran. On Tuesday, Saudi authorities said 73 people were injured and several oil facilities were temporarily shut down due to Houthi attacks. The Houthis said Saudi Arabia responded with more than 30 strikes on Yemen earlier Wednesday.

Asked about the Houthis, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters earlier Wednesday the U.S. is “watching those events very closely.” He blamed Iran for the uptick in hostilities, saying “the Houthis in many ways are agents and proxies of the Iranians.”

“I think behind some of this is clearly the Iranian hand,” Rubio said.

Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, denied Rubio’s allegations in a social media post, calling the Houthis “an independent Yemeni actor that makes its own decisions; it takes orders from no one and acts as nobody’s proxy.”

Rubio says he doesn’t believe foreign assistance to Iran’s regime is “changing the dynamics” of the war

Asked by reporters whether the U.S. knows which countries are aiding Iran in the ongoing war, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to name any. But he said he doesn’t believe that foreign assistance is helping Tehran in any meaningful way.

“We don’t believe anybody is giving Iran anything that’s changing the dynamics or the parameters of what we’re seeing,” Rubio said while traveling in Ecuador. “At the end of the day, they continue to fire on naval ships and when they fire at our naval ships, they pay a price in tankers.”

He added, “In the meantime, we’re going to continue to strangle them economically.”

Trump: “I think the war will end immediately after the election”

President Trump said Iran is desperate to affect the midterm elections and mused Wednesday before heading to Texas that the war would end right afterward.

“I think the war will end immediately after the election, because they can’t hold out any longer,” the president told reporters. “They’re desperate to try and affect the election so we can get a nice, weak group of people in there and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapon.”

“All they want is a nuclear weapon and if they had a nuclear weapon the whole world is in deep trouble,” he said.

Despite the claims, Mr. Trump said he’s not looking to negotiate with Iran in the near future, before the midterms.

“We’re not looking for it, to be honest,” Mr. Trump said. “Originally I wanted to make a deal. We’re so far down the line, they have very little country left right now, so we’re not looking for it. Yes, a negotiation could possibly happen but it’s not something we’re looking at.”

U.N. nuclear watchdog resolution “will not bring any results,” Iran says

Iran condemned on Wednesday a resolution adopted by the United Nations atomic watchdog’s board of governors, which referred the Islamic republic to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear “non-compliance.”

“This resolution was passed under political pressure from the US and its allies and in our view has no basis and will not bring any results,” Iran’s representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Reza Najafi, told state television.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi blamed the U.S. for destroying nuclear facilities and then saying they need to get inside.

“They attack Iran’s nuclear facilities under safeguards, disrupt the normal verification process, and then use that very disruption as a pretext to issue a resolution in the Board of Governors,” Gharibabadi said on X. “With these fabrications, you can neither compensate for the failure of your policies and actions nor achieve anything in the Security Council.”

CBS/AFP

Traffic through Strait of Hormuz will remain constrained through end of year, U.S. energy agency says

The amount of ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz is expected to remain constrained through the end of 2026, leaving an average of 5.7 million barrels of oil per day shut in, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The agency released somewhat pessimistic guidance on Wednesday about the ongoing shortages of oil due to the U.S. war with Iran. Not only will crude oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz remain low through the end of the year, the agency said pre-war levels won’t return until the second quarter of 2027, “although output from some producers may remain low through the forecast period.”

Most of the projections assume the war with Iran will end “in the coming months.” The average price of a barrel of Brent crude was $91 in August and it is expected to hover around $90 through the end of the year, but the EIA projection is for prices to fall to a $74 average in 2027. On Wednesday, the price for a barrel of Brent crude crossed $101, the highest level since May.

“Prices remain high due to falling global inventories,” the agency said in a press release. “EIA estimates global inventories have decreased by about 400 million barrels so far this year and expects inventories to continue declining through the end of 2026.”

Lebanese army criticizes Israeli attacks, accuses them of not adhering to agreements

The Lebanese army came out strongly against Israeli military action in the southern part of Lebanon on Wednesday, as the country has worked to achieve peace and fight the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia within its borders.

“In a new wave of condemnable and widespread attacks on Lebanon, the Israeli occupation has escalated over the past days its targeting of residential areas and institutions, resulting in a large number of martyrs and wounded,” the Lebanese army wrote on social media.

The army said 12 people were killed in the town of Kafr Remaneh, in the Nabatieh region, including women and children. 

“The continuation and escalation of these attacks by the Israeli occupation, concurrent with brutal acts of demolition and explosions in the south, leaves no room for doubt regarding its aggressive intentions, contradicts international laws, threatens existing understandings and arrangements, hinders the Army’s efforts aimed at establishing stability, and constitutes a flagrant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and security,” the army said.

Most directly, Lebanon said Israel was not upholding its agreements in regards to the trilateral framework agreement signed between Lebanon and Israel and mediated by the U.S.

“In contrast to the Army’s commitment, the Israeli occupation forces have not adhered to the agreement, as the number of violations has reached approximately 7,700 breaches from the date of signing the framework agreement on June 26, 2026, up to the present. Moreover, the Israeli occupation has opened fire in close proximity to Army elements and patrols,” the Lebanese army said in its statement.

Germany condemns Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia

Germany has condemned the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces after a flare-up in fighting between the two sides in recent days.

A wave of Houthi attacks on Tuesday pummeled Saudi oil sites and wounded dozens of people. On Wednesday, the Houthis reported more than 40 Saudi retaliatory strikes.

In a statement on X, Germany’s Foreign Office said the country “strongly condemns the Houthi attacks against infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and on Yemeni government forces.”

It added that the Houthis must cease attacks on government-held areas and Saudi Arabia and return to the 2022 peace plan, a fragile truce that was broken this year as the Iran war widened. 

Nuclear watchdog refers Iran to U.N. Security Council

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors on Wednesday voted to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear “non-compliance” in a diplomatic move to pile pressure on the Islamic republic.

The IAEA has not had access to key nuclear facilities in Iran since Israel, joined by the United States, launched a 12-day conflict in June 2025 that included strikes on nuclear sites.

Nuclear facilities have also been hit in the latest war, which erupted on Feb. 28, and the IAEA has repeatedly urged it be given access.

The resolution, seen by AFP, was adopted by 23 votes in favor, three votes against and eight abstentions, two diplomats told AFP. Russia, China and Niger voted against it.

It “requests the (IAEA) director general to report” Iran to the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The resolution, submitted by Britain, France, Germany and the United States, marks the first time Iran has been referred to the Security Council in 20 years for failing to comply with its nuclear reporting obligations.

“Very close” to toppling Iran’s Islamic republic, Netanyahu says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to Israeli troops in southern Syria on Wednesday that Iran’s Islamic republic was on the verge of collapse, as fighting in the six-month Iran war intensifies.

“There is still work to be done — the main task is to bring down the terror regime in Iran. We are very close to that. We know that the entire axis will ultimately collapse,” he said on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon during a visit to the Israel-Syria border with Defense Minister Israel Katz.

In southern Syria, Israeli forces have been stationed in a “security zone” since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

They occupy what was previously a buffer zone patrolled by the United Nations that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Israeli-occupied Golan since 1974.

“We will not allow any terrorist army to establish itself on our border,” Netanyahu reiterated on Wednesday.

Katz visited Israeli troops stationed in southern Syria two weeks ago, prompting condemnation from Damascus, which denounced a “flagrant violation of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the fall of Assad and made repeated incursions into Syrian territory. Officials have also repeatedly vowed to keep troops in the security zone, where Israel is seeking a broader demilitarised area.

European gas prices reach highest level since 2023 amid Iran flare-up

European natural gas prices rose sharply Wednesday to their highest level since early 2023, topping 80 euros (about $92) per megawatt-hour (MWh), amid renewed fighting between the United States and Iran and seasonally low reserves in Europe.

The Dutch TTF contract — the benchmark for European natural gas — rose 4.4% to 79.21 euros per MWh on Wednesday afternoon, having earlier hit 80.99 euros, spiking just as Europe needs to replenish its stocks ahead of the winter.

On Tuesday, U.S. Central Command said it attacked and disabled five Iranian tankers in response to unsuccessful Iranian missile attacks targeting a U.S. warship in recent days.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which has drastically impeded all types of fuel shipments through the vital Strait of Hormuz, also pushed global oil prices back up to a 15-week high on Wednesday, with international benchmark Brent crude selling for $101 a barrel.

Thousands in Yemen flee deadly Houthi clashes: “Nothing left”

Salama Saeed and her son fled for their lives when shelling and gunfire from Yemen’s Houthi rebels engulfed their village, forcing her to leave other children behind.

They are among the nearly 20,000 people driven from their homes since the Iranian-backed rebels launched a broad offensive in areas near the Red Sea last week, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Choking back tears as she shelters in a rudimentary hut of wood and straw, the mother describes her anguish for her four adult children who were trapped by the fighting.

“I fled on my own, terrified, on one of my sons’ motorcycles. We have nothing left,” said the woman in her fifties from the Muthalath al-Udain area of Hodeida province.

“We were forced to leave because of the Houthis,” she told the AFP news agency, adding: “My children are still there — they couldn’t get out. I weep for them every day, waiting for them to escape.”

Yemen’s long-running conflict has flared into life after a four-year truce unravelled in July, as regional tensions rocketed during the Iran war.

The Houthis are trying to seize territory along the Red Sea, where they have been attacking Saudi tankers. Meanwhile, a wave of Houthi attacks on Tuesday set Saudi oil sites ablaze and wounded dozens of people. On Wednesday, the rebels reported more than 40 Saudi reprisal strikes.

Saeed and her son found refuge in a camp for the displaced in Khokha on the Red Sea coast, about 19 miles from their village.

“There’s no aid. We’re exhausted,” she said. “Who will give us aid? Every time we’re displaced from one place, war comes and forces us to leave again! Where can we go? We’re tired of this situation.”

Iraqi oil ministry says oil tanker hit in territorial waters

An oil tanker leased by the Iraqi Oil Tankers Company was hit by an unknown source while inside Iraqi territorial waters, Iraq’s Ministry of Oil said Wednesday in a statement posted to Facebook.

The incident “resulted in minor material damage to the vessel’s hull,” the ministry said, adding no one was killed or wounded and no oil leaked from the ship.

“The relevant authorities are following up on the circumstances of the incident and are working to verify the source of the impact and its causes,” the ministry said.

Iranian military says it will hit 20 targets for every 2 or 3 U.S. strikes

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that it will hit 20 targets for every two or three U.S. strikes, while outlining the country’s conditions for ending the war.

“If the enemy wants an end to this situation, it must, while completely stopping the war, refrain from making threats again, the army of the Zionist regime must withdraw from Lebanon, the blockade of Yemen must end, $24 billion of Iran’s frozen assets must be released, and it must refrain from any interference in the country’s nuclear and missile capabilities,” said IRGC spokesman Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebi, according to pro-regime Iranian outlet Akharin Khabar. 

“We even have the capability to hit targets at this distance of 400 kilometers (250 miles), and some time ago, we targeted an American aircraft carrier at a distance of 500 kilometers (310 miles),” Mohebi claimed, adding that Iran has “reached a point where if the enemy hits two or three of our targets, we will respond firmly with 20 targets.”

The U.S. military’s Central Command said Tuesday night that it had destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in response to recent attempts by Iran to attack U.S. warships with ballistic missiles.

Iran says “prohibited zone” near Hormuz to cover parts of Gulf of Oman and beyond

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that a new “prohibited zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz would cover parts of the Gulf of Oman and beyond, adding they would announce the exact coordinates later.

“It approximately starts from the direction of Chabahar, covering part of the Sea of Oman and another part of the Arabian Sea,” IRGC Spokesman Hossein Mohebi told state television. “If a vessel enters that area without coordination, it will be subject to our sanctions.”

On Monday, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said Tehran was planning to announce a maritime “exclusion zone” outside the strait where it intends to stop vessels attempting to transit the waterway without Iranian permission. 

Houthis accuse Saudi Arabia of striking Yemeni prison, killing inmates and visitors

The Houthis accused Saudi Arabia on Wednesday of carrying out an airstrike on a Yemeni prison, killing inmates as well as women and children who were visiting.

In a statement on X, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the alleged strike on the prison in Al-Hazm, the capital of Yemen’s Al-Jawf province, took place on Monday and killed “a large number of prison inmates, along with a number of visitors including children and women.”

“The attempts by the Saudi enemy to evade responsibility for its crimes and aggression against our country will not exempt it from the consequences and repercussions of this aggression and criminality, no matter how much it tries to cover it up,” he added.

The Saudis have not responded to the Houthi claims.

The Houthis on Wednesday also accused Saudi Arabia of launching more than 30 strikes on several regions of Yemen, a day after Saudi authorities reported Houthi attacks had injured 73 people early on Tuesday, and temporarily shut several oil facilities.

Fighting in Yemen reignited last week, when the Houthis launched a major campaign to seize territory near the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait.

Iran condemns U.S. strike on oil tankers

Iran’s foreign ministry on Wednesday strongly condemned U.S. strikes on its oil tankers, describing the attacks the previous day as a threat to regional security.

“The aggressive actions by the United States against Iranian commercial vessels not only increase the dangers of tensions in the region but are also considered an overt threat to regional and international peace and security,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that Iranian forces had targeted U.S. military facilities in the region in “self-defense”.

U.S. Central Command said it disabled five Iranian tankers on Tuesday with strikes launched in response to unsuccessful Iranian missile attacks targeting a U.S. warship in recent days.

Several vessels in Gulf damaged, British maritime agency reports

Several vessels in the Persian Gulf region were on fire Wednesday, a U.K. Navy agency reported, after Iran said it had attacked more than a dozen ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz without its permission.

The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations center (UKMTO) said “several merchant vessels in the Northern Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman” were hit by “disabling fire as part of ongoing military activity in the region.”

The center did not name the ships in question, but the U.S. said Tuesday night it had destroyed 5 Iranian oil tankers in the gulf.

It also said a vessel 24 nautical miles northwest of Port Rashid, in the UAE, was listing, potentially due to an attack.

“The Master of a tanker has reported sighting a vessel listing while at anchor, possibly indicating water ingress following an attack from an unknown projectile,” it said.

On Wednesday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it had attacked two U.S. warships, eight oil tankers and 10 “non-compliant vessels” trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz. 

The U.S. military’s Central Command quickly denied that any American ships had been struck.

U.S. military denies Iran’s claim to have damaged U.S. warships with missile attack

The U.S. military’s Central Command denied on Wednesday Iran’s claim to have inflicted “heavy damage” on U.S. warships.

“No U.S. Navy warship has been struck; all IRGC attempted attacks failed,” CENTCOM said in a post on social media. 

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed earlier that its naval forces had targeted two U.S. warships, along with eight other vessels, and “inflicted heavy damage on them.”

CENTCOM dismissed the claim as “completely FALSE” and said U.S. forces had destroyed 10 Iranian tankers “just in the last week.”

Oil prices could hit $120, analysis finds, as Americans absorb $100 billion fuel hit

An analysis by Goldman Sachs has forecast that heightened attacks in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea could push global oil prices above $120 a barrel, which would add to the surging fuel costs Americans have faced during the Iran war.

The investment bank’s forecast implies a roughly 20% increase in the cost of Brent crude, the international benchmark, which is trading at nearly $100 a barrel. Oil prices have spiked in recent weeks as the Middle East conflict drags on, with U.S. military forces striking three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday and the Houthi rebels attacking Saudi oil facilities.

Read more here.

Iranian forces say they targeted American warships again

Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that it had targeted two U.S. warships and eight other vessels in retaliation for U.S. strikes on five Iranian oil tankers the previous day.

The IRGC said its naval forces had targeted the vessels in the Persian Gulf region, claiming to have “inflicted heavy damage on them.” 

There was no immediate response from the U.S. military, which said Tuesday that it had warned the crews of the five Iranian tankers to abandon ship “before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable.”

The new attacks claimed by the IRGC are the latest in a series of flare-ups in fighting between the U.S. and Iran since a ceasefire agreed to by both sides in June fell apart over disagreements regarding control over ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. 

Oil hits $100 per barrel for first time since July amid fighting flare-up

The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, hit $100 per barrel Wednesday morning, the highest it’s been since late July.

The increase is a continuation of an upward trend seen since August and follows a flare-up in fighting between the U.S. and Iran.

The U.S. announced late Tuesday it had struck 5 Iranian oil tankers in response to an attempted attack on its warships in the region. Iran retaliated by targeting a military base in Jordan that hosts U.S. forces. The Jordanian military said it intercepted 18 Iranian missiles and reported no casualties.

Protesters urge South Korea to not join U.S. war with Iran

Dozens of South Koreans urged their government on Wednesday not to deploy troops to the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

The protesters across from the U.S. embassy compound in Seoul waved signs saying “Do not join a war of aggression” as the country’s leaders weigh a “contribution” to the waterway’s security.

“We cannot send our young people into a sea of death!” chanted the protesters on the steps outside Seoul’s Sejong Center for the Performing Arts.

The protest came a day after South Korean defence authorities said they had sent a fact-finding mission to assess the situation in Hormuz, while stressing that no decision had been made on any deployment.  

South Korea said Friday it was considering “contributions” to U.S. security efforts along the strait  provided that its own military readiness was not compromised.

Iran has warned that any South Korean deployment would be “regarded as direct support for the party responsible for that aggression and will have serious consequences.”

Iran-backed Houthi group reports over 30 strikes across Yemen

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis reported more than 30 Saudi strikes on several regions on Wednesday, a day after the rebels launched major attacks on their neighbor, injuring dozens of people.

There has been no official comment from Saudi Arabia about the Houthi report.

Saudi authorities previously said that Houthi attacks caused temporary shutdowns at oil sites and injured 73 people early Tuesday. The rebels reported Saudi airstrikes following the attacks.

Deadly fighting reignited in Yemen last week, when the Houthis launched a major campaign to seize territory near the Bab al-Mandab strait.

The strait has become an increasingly important route for Saudi oil since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, choking Gulf exports.

Price of oil trades at $99 per barrel again as open hostilities resume

The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, was trading at over $99 early Wednesday, in a continuation of the upward trend seen since August.

Meanwhile, the benchmark U.S. crude rose 1.2% to $94.17 a barrel.

Before the war began in February, a fifth of the world’s oil flowed through the Strait of Hormuz but since then, traffic has plummeted, with only small periods of temporary and limited recovery.

Iran launches missiles at U.S. targets in Jordan, state media says

Iran has launched missiles toward U.S. targets in Jordan, Iranian state-run media said, following the latest American strikes.

It’s the latest tit-for-tat retaliation after the U.S. military said it destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers following two attacks on a U.S. warship by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard over the past two days.

U.S. Central Command, when asked about the strikes on the Jordanian air base, said it had no information to offer.

Jordan’s military said its air defense systems intercepted 18 ballistic missiles launched toward its territory and two others fell in places where people do not live. It says it had no reports of casualties.

Jordan is a staunch U.S. ally that hosts American forces, making the kingdom’s military bases a target of repeated Iranian strikes.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy also warned crews of oil tankers near ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to immediately leave their vessels, saying the ships could be targeted in retaliation for the U.S. attacks on Iranian tankers.

CENTCOM confirms it struck five Iranian oil tankers

The U.S. military’s Central Command confirmed Tuesday it “destroyed” five oil tankers associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In a statement accompanied by video footage of the operation, CENTCOM said the strikes were in response to a set of unsuccessful Iranian missile attacks against a U.S. warship in recent days.

Four of the tankers were struck in the Gulf of Oman, according to CENTCOM, and a fifth was hit near Kharg Island, an island in the Persian Gulf that serves as Iran’s primary terminal for crude oil exports. It alleged the ships were part of Iran’s shadow fleet, a network of tankers used by Iran to export oil and generate revenue for the regime.

“American forces directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable,” CENTCOM said.

CBS News had reported on a U.S. attack against Iranian tankers earlier Tuesday.

CENTCOM also struck three Iranian oil tankers last weekend in retaliation for an earlier attempted Iranian attack against U.S. Navy ships.