President threatens major military action as oil prices climb to triple digits
Washington: Oil has been trading above $100 since the final phase of the Iran war after Houthi rebels opened fire on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, prompting US President Donald Trump to warn of bigger attacks against the Iranian regime and its proxies.
The price of Brent crude rose more than 8 percent on Thursday (US time) amid widespread fears that Houthi attacks in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait would disrupt shipping in another key waterway.
Trump warned he would impose “major military penalties” on Iran and the Houthis if Iranian-backed militants in Yemen opened fire on another ship – “I’m very disappointed because they’ve been very professional and intelligent so far.”
President also He told US news site Axios He said he was considering a “massive attack, bigger than ever before” against Iran and that the military was ready to carry it out.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammed Bagher Galibaf took advantage of skyrocketing oil prices to declare victory. “They wanted to punish Iran. Instead they punished themselves with triple-digit oil,” he wrote to X.
Despite the attacks, two supertankers carrying an estimated 4 million barrels of Saudi oil emerged from the Red Sea through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait on Thursday; shipping data apparently escaped the blockade announced by the Houthis.
Singapore-flagged tanker Xin Long Yang, which made a U-turn and stopped in the middle of the Red Sea on Tuesday, continued its journey southwards, following the Chinese-flagged tanker Cosnew Lake. Both emerged from the Red Sea on Thursday, data showed.
Some cargo ships turned and headed north, while at least one large tanker unloaded some of its cargo to pass through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, said Gregory Brew, an Iran and oil analyst at consultancy Eurasia Group.
“This was a reminder that the Houthis can ‘disrupt’ crude oil flows, but they cannot prevent them from reaching their goals in a Hormuz-style way,” Brew told X.
Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives once again passed a resolution calling on the president to halt the war against Iran unless specifically authorized by Congress, after four Republicans took to the floor. The resolution has no practical effect and has stalled in the Senate.
Democrats used rising oil prices to sharpen their attacks on Trump ahead of the summer congressional recess.
“The American people are against this war,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, adding that it “has no direction or purpose.”
“They’re totally okay with paying more than four dollars for a gallon of gas.”
Speaking at an event showcasing data centres, Trump defended the ongoing war, saying it was much shorter and less deadly than America’s campaigns in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.
“We want to get this done and we want to do it right, but we have to do what we came to do,” he said.
Trump also sought to call out an agreement signed Wednesday with Saudi Arabia that gives U.S. companies access to the kingdom’s civilian nuclear energy program; it was a controversial move worth billions of dollars for American companies.
In a post on TruthSocial, the president said the deal was conditional on Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords, an initiative that envisioned Arab nations normalizing relations with Israel during Trump’s first term.
Riyadh has long insisted that it needs to see meaningful progress towards a two-state solution for Palestine before considering joining the Accords.
The agreement announced Wednesday did not mention a change in Saudi Arabia’s policy toward Israel, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not provide further information at the briefing.
“If they do not join the Abraham Accords, the agreement will be canceled,” he said about Trump’s attitude. “This agreement is still in the works. We hope it will be finalized eventually, provided the president speaks this morning.”
Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political correspondent in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
