Saudi crude tankers turn back as Houthis open new front in US-Iran war

Written by: Jana Choukeir, Nayera Abdallah and Elwely Elwelly

DUBAI, July 21 (Reuters) – Two oil tankers carrying Saudi crude to Asia reversed course in the Red Sea on Tuesday following threats from pro-Iran Houthis in Yemen.

The diversions came as US forces bombed targets in southern and western Iran overnight and Tehran targeted the US. Recent violence in sites in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, and at least one tanker hit in the Strait of Hormuz, has all but destroyed the interim peace agreement signed last month.

The Houthis announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia on Monday, opening a potential new front in the war and increasing the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf.

Shipping data from LSEG showed that two tankers loading Saudi crude destined for China and India this week made a U-turn and headed towards Suez. However, sources said Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port on the Red Sea was operating normally.

Oil prices gained about 2% after the latest attacks, but signs that Tehran and Washington want to resume diplomacy helped limit price gains.

U.S. Central Command said the latest round of attacks hit Iran’s military command centers, naval capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and air defense systems.

State media reported that explosions were heard around the city of Shiraz in southern Iran. According to media reports, civilian settlements outside Konarak and Chabahar on the southern coast, the western city of Khorramabad and the city of Abdanan were attacked. IRNA news agency later quoted an official in Khorramabad as saying “no enemy attack took place there.”

A health ministry official said 50 civilians were killed and 500 injured in the latest US attacks on Iran.

IRAN STRIKES ACROSS THE REGION

Iran has launched new attacks across the Gulf, where recent attacks on desalination plants have raised concerns about water shortages.

Kuwait said it responded to a drone and missile attack on Tuesday afternoon and sirens were blaring in Bahrain.

Attacks on electricity generation and water desalination facilities in Kuwait on Monday caused several generating units to be taken out of service as a precaution and repairs were ongoing, officials said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the infrastructure of the US technology company Amazon in Bahrain in response to what they described as a US attack on the construction site of the Darkhovin nuclear power plant, which is planned to be built in Iran.

Iranian state media reported that Iranian forces also targeted accommodation facilities for US military personnel at Bahrain’s Sheikh Issa Air Base. There was no comment from the US military, Bahrain or Amazon on the reported incidents, which Reuters could not verify.

The Iranian military said it carried out a drone attack on three US military bases in Kuwait on Tuesday. Guardsmen said they attacked a US military base in Jordan, while Jordanian forces captured and destroyed five Iranian drones.

TANKERS CRASHED

Maritime safety agency UKMTO said on Tuesday that a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz had been hit by a shell, forcing the crew to abandon ship and board a lifeboat.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard also said two oil tankers caught fire after explosions as they tried to pass through the southern shipping lane of the strait, through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally pass.

Only four commercial ships crossed the strait on Monday, mostly using the northern shipping lane near the Iranian coast, according to Kpler data. This figure was down from the previous day’s seven ships.

Iran was pressuring the Houthis to close the Bab al-Mandeb gate to the Red Sea if the United States continued to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure; This was putting two of the world’s most vital energy arteries at risk.

A complete closure of Bab al-Mandab would reduce global oil supplies by 7%, as it would leave most Saudi oil exports unable to leave the region, contributing to the 10% cut in oil flows resulting from the war in the Gulf.

Diplomatic pressure to restore ceasefire

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that Tehran has received a 10-day ceasefire offer from mediators as part of efforts to salvage an interim agreement aimed at paving the way for a permanent agreement to end the war that began with US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.

Israel did not participate in the recent attacks on Iran. “We have no desire to put ourselves in this situation, but we are prepared for any scenario,” Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday. he said.

Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni asked Pakistan to continue its mediating role in the conflict and later arrived in Islamabad for further talks.

In a video released on Tuesday, Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian said that the level of “interaction” with the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic is increasing day by day.

Mojtaba Khamenei, who is backed by Iran’s increasingly powerful Revolutionary Guard, has not been seen in public since the airstrike that killed his father, Ali Khamenei, at the start of the war.

The final phase of the fighting proved to be one of the deadliest phases of the conflict for US forces. Deaths of US soldiers rose to 17 over the weekend.

Trump, who is under increasing pressure at home due to rising gasoline prices since the start of the war, said: “The latest US attacks on Iran are revenge for the deaths of American soldiers.”

The war has killed thousands of people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon. Part of Lebanon is still under Israeli occupation following attacks on Israel by Hezbollah fighters who say they are acting in solidarity with Tehran.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will meet Trump at the White House on Tuesday to present a plan on how to disarm Iran-allied Hezbollah and ensure Israel’s withdrawal.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Ros Russell; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)