More Red Sea chaos, as Trump repeats retaliation threat

Four more tankers changed course in the Red Sea after pro-Iran Houthis in Yemen threatened to abandon the southern route; A new risk to global oil supply has emerged due to the intensifying war between the USA and Iran.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran was not serious in peace talks, and Pakistan, which is acting as a mediator, condemned the disruption of the second critical energy route, where three tankers returned on Tuesday.

Both Rubio and Pakistan said they still support the idea of ​​talks. The Houthis’ threat on Tuesday for Saudi oil shipments to head south, through coastal areas they control and into the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, comes on top of Iran’s near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.

Oil prices rose to their highest level in nearly six weeks.

President Donald Trump threatened to destroy a bridge or power plant in Iran if Iran opened fire on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

US attacks have expanded from the south of Iran to its western and central regions in recent days. An official from Iran’s Ministry of Health said 53 civilians were killed and 592 civilians were injured this month.

The US says it never targets civilians.

Army Commander-in-Chief Major General Amir Hatami said Iran is strengthening its army in the expectation that its enemies will break the agreements.

Iranian media also quoted Hassan Kashkavi, spokesman for the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, as saying Trump was “in a swamp.”

Every day, millions of barrels of Saudi oil head to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

If shipments cannot pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the southern Red Sea, they only have the route north via the Suez Canal, adding weeks to the journey.

Iran struck vital water purification and energy facilities in Kuwait and said it was targeting US military assets there, as well as in Bahrain and Jordan. Rubio said he would protect US interests.

“The problem we’re having right now is that they’re not serious about talks. If they’re serious, we’re serious. If they’re not, then we will do what’s necessary to protect our interests, and also the interests of our allies,” he said at a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Manila.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that mediators have offered Iran a 10-day ceasefire proposal. Analysts said Tuesday the new threat to shipping from the Houthis was a tactical move by Iran.

The offer aims to save the temporary ceasefire agreement signed between Washington and Tehran in June. Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan this week and asked it to continue mediation efforts. Pakistan said on Wednesday it would do so, but shipping security must be ensured.

Iran insisted on maintaining control of the Strait of Hormuz, which it established during the war launched by the USA and Israel on February 28. Rubio said allowing such control would set a dangerous precedent for the world, including in Southeast Asia, where many countries have territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.

The war has killed thousands of people, and Iran’s restrictions on energy shipments from Gulf countries have led to worldwide inflation.

Tehran residents reported air defense-activated explosions over the capital early Wednesday, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said, in the 11th consecutive night that the United States bombed Iran.

An official speaking to Iran’s state news agency IRNA said that three points, including a power pole close to the facility, were hit in Bushehr province, where Iran’s only nuclear power plant is located. Iranian media also said the US targeted sites in Kabudarahang district in central Hamadan province, but did not provide details.

The Iranian military said it struck the US Al Azraq Air Base in Jordan, targeted warehouses and aircraft maintenance hangars at Sheikh Issa Air Base in Bahrain, and also targeted Camp Doha in Kuwait.

Trump had previously said that 18 US soldiers have been killed in the war so far, four of them in Iranian attacks on US military bases in Jordan and Iraq in the last few days.