Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed to have struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on Wednesday, potentially opening a new front in the US-Iran war engulfing the region.

The claim came as the United States launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iranian military targets, marking the twelfth consecutive night of US attacks on Iran.

The Houthis said they had carried out missile and drone strikes on two Saudi tankers that "violated the blockade", naming the vessels as the Encelia and the Layla.

Kuwait's army said early Thursday it was intercepting hostile drones, following several days of Iranian strikes on the country.

"Kuwaiti air defenses are currently responding to hostile drone threats," the army said in an overnight message on X. "Any explosions that may be heard are the result of air defense systems intercepting hostile targets."

The US House of Representatives approved a $95 billion budget framework on Wednesday, with most of the funding earmarked for the Pentagon to fund the war against Iran.

The measure was narrowly approved in a 216-214 vote and now heads to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain.

The plan provides $73 billion for the armed forces and intelligence agencies, notably to fund operations linked to the war against Iran, as well as $12 billion in aid for farmers affected by President Donald Trump's trade war.

The US military announced Wednesday that they are conducting their 12th night of strikes against Iran as both sides are increasingly targeting civilian infrastructure.

US Central Command once again said the strikes are designed to "further degrade Iran's ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters" as the U.S. pushes to regain control over the Strait of Hormuz and restore the flow of international shipping.

President Donald Trump attends the dignified transfer of four US service members killed in the Middle East at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The troops were killed in attacks in Jordan and Iraq linked to Iranian drones and missiles.

(AP)

Trump had warned on Tuesday that the US would hit the site, known as Pickaxe Mountain in English.

Bulgaria's Parliament on Wednesday backed a government proposal to allow the U.S. military to use an air base in the Balkan country to support U.S. operations in the Middle East, while some expressed concern about becoming involved in the Iran war.

The Trump administration has faced pushback from certain other countries in the European Union over the use of air bases in support of its war with Iran.

Legislators in Bulgaria voted 136-13, with two abstentions, to allow up to eight U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft along with 250 personnel and supporting equipment at Bezmer Air Base from Friday to Oct. 1. No further approvals are needed.

(AP)

Iran media reports US strike on Larak island in Hormuz

(AFP)

A missile alert has sounded in Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia has warned residents of Dammam, on the Persian Gulf, to seek shelter. The warnings on Wednesday came as Iran has launched missile attacks across the region and the U.S. has carried out waves of airstrikes on Iran.

(AP)

The United States and Iran exchanged fire across the Middle East on Wednesday, as officials in both nations called into question diplomatic efforts to stop the war as it threatens to again spin out of control.

The U.S. launched an 11th night of airstrikes on the Islamic Republic, hitting targets across the nation as air defense systems opened fire over the capital, Tehran. It wasn't immediately clear what specific targets the Americans went after in these nighttime strikes.

Iran retaliated with missile and drone fire targeting Jordan's port city of Aqaba, once again attacking just on the doorstep of Israel. The U.S. has been using Israel's main Ben-Gurion International Airport to host its refueler aircraft and has put fighter jets at bases in the country, but Iran has been hesitant to strike for fear of bringing the Israeli military back into the conflict.

(AP)

Sirens sound in Bahrain: interior ministry 

(AFP)

A new round of US-mediated talks between Israel and Lebanon will be held in Italy on August 4, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Wednesday.

"We will host another session of dialogue on August 4," Tajani told parliament, following a round of talks between delegations from the two countries in Rome last week. 

(AFP)

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Asian leaders Wednesday that Iran's demand to control and collect tolls in the Strait of Hormuz would threaten the world’s economy and set a precedent that could be repeated elsewhere in the world.

Rubio spoke at the start of an annual meeting in the Philippine capital, Manila, with counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations who have expressed alarm over the resurgent war in the Middle East that has battered their region. Despite Washington’s preoccupation with the war, Rubio said “we’re with ASEAN 100%.”

“If we create a precedent in the Middle East where a nation state can decide that they are going to control an international waterway, charge a toll and if you don’t pay them, blow up your ships, we have created a very dangerous precedent which will repeat itself in other parts of the world, including in this region,” he said.

Washington's top diplomat also renewed allegations that Iran has reneged on commitments under a failed peace deal. Rubio said Iran “has been reaching out to the United States, both directly and indirectly, to engage in talks about settling the differences,” but gave no indication that the U.S. was considering returning to peace talks with Iran.

(AP)

The warning came even as it remains unclear just what has been placed at Pickaxe Mountain, as the United Nations' nuclear watchdog has never gained access to the site.

A Houthi threat to impose a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea could significantly widen the Iran war and strain a US military already focused on stopping Tehran's attacks across the region, current and former US officials said. 

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday they ​would not allow ships to load or unload at Saudi ports, potentially blocking Saudi oil exports and choking off an additional 7% of global oil supply. 

Saudi Arabia, which hosts US forces, has not yet requested military assistance from Washington. But Trump suggested on Tuesday that a move by the group to obstruct shipping in the Red Sea — a vital corridor for global trade — could draw the United States in. 

"If something like that happens, we'll take care of it. We've done that with the Houthis before," Trump told reporters on Tuesday. For the US military, it may not be so simple. 

The changes in direction by the vessels suggest a second potential disruption to a major shipping route from the Middle East that could compound the shortfall in global energy markets, already under crisis due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Vessel crossings via the Strait of Hormuz dropped further on Tuesday, shipping data showed, as security concerns lingered amid ongoing attacks by the United States and Iran. A total of three commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, down from four the previous day, Kpler data showed.

The general cargo ship the Kaiser exited the strait loaded with cargo, while the dry bulk carrier H7 Smb8 entered the strait in ballast, Kpler data showed, meaning it will take on a cargo in the Gulf.

The Hsin Ocean entered the strait on Tuesday carrying refined palm olein, Kpler said.

There were no visible very large crude carrier (VLCC) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers passing through the strait on Tuesday.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday the Iran war has cost the United States $37.5 billion so far, up from a previous estimate of nearly $29 billion in mid-May.

The US military has confirmed that a third service member is believed to be dead in Friday's attack on a base in Jordan and identified them as Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York.

The US military said it completed the 11th night of strikes on Iran early Wednesday as attacks across the Middle East overshadowed diplomatic efforts in Pakistan to salvage an interim ceasefire deal that has collapsed.

US Central Command said targets included aircraft hangars and drone storage sites. The newest barrage came after President Donald Trump telegraphed that strikes would be intensifying.

Before the latest strikes, Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan, a key mediator in the conflict, seeking to revamp diplomacy. But it was unclear what new arrangement might be reached to end the war, which lately has become a battle for control over the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway vital to world energy supplies.

According to a Wall Street Journal report citing US and Israeli officials, Israeli intelligence believes the transfer took place last autumn, months after the 12-day conflict in June 2025, when US and Israeli forces struck several of Iran's nuclear facilities.

Senators are preparing to grill Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Tuesday over the U.S. war against Iran, as Republicans push a $95 billion budget package to fund the military, along with aid to farmers and voting law changes that are top White House priorities.

Hegseth, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins are set to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee days after the military announced that three more American service members have died in the conflict, bringing the death toll to 17, and that more than 100 have been injured since early July.

Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the panel, is warning that the conflict with Iran “could be another forever war.”

(AP)

Kuwait's foreign ministry said on Tuesday it had summoned Iran's ambassador over a strike the previous day that targeted a Kuwaiti tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and wounded several people.

The ministry said on X that it delivered "a protest note regarding Iran's targeting of the Kuwaiti tanker 'Kifan' on Monday evening, while it was passing through the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in injuries to several crew members".

(AFP)

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States will continue attacks on Iran, while forecasting it would take the country more than 20 years to rebuild from current damage.

"If we left right now, it would take Iran 20, 25 years to rebuild. Okay, and we're not finished at all...we're not leaving right now," he told reporters during a White House meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.

(AFP)

The U.S. military on Tuesday identified a soldier who was killed while disarming an Iranian drone in Iraq as a 30-year-old from North Carolina.

The military said it was investigating the death of Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton of Fayetteville during a controlled detonation on Sunday at an air base in Irbil in northern Iraq.

Swinton will get a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge, and be promoted to staff sergeant, the military said in a statement.

(AP)

Two oil tankers which loaded Saudi crude for China and India this week made U-turns in the Red Sea on Tuesday and were headed toward the Suez Canal, shipping data on LSEG showed, following a warning from Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militia.

The Houthis on Monday declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia, opening a potential new front in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and raising the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf.

The group, in an email sent to shipping companies, warned them not to load or discharge cargo at Saudi Arabian ports and said such activity may result in being targeted "in any location".

(Reuters)

Kuwait said on Tuesday it was intercepting Iranian attacks, as sirens sounded in Bahrain, with AFP correspondents in the capitals of both countries hearing explosions.

"Kuwaiti air defence is currently intercepting hostile missile and drone attacks as part of the heinous Iranian aggression," the Kuwaiti defence ministry said on X. The Bahraini interior ministry said in a separate statement that sirens had sounded and called on residents to "head to the nearest safe place".

(AFP)

According to a document seen by Bloomberg, a company offered seafarers an additional six months' salary if they completed a round trip through the strait to collect crude oil from Saudi Arabia or Iraq and unload it in the Gulf of Oman.

Kuwait has stated that in the continued "sinful" Iranian strikes, the nation's power and water desalination plants were subjected to attacks on Monday evening, resulting to fires in number of facilities.

In a statement released by the Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said that the Iranian attacks, which continued for the fourth consecutive day, caused fire to break out in numerous facilities. The Ministry said that the emergency operations helped contain the fire, adding that an assessment of the damage and the ways to rehabilitate the facilities is being done.

(ANI)

A high-level Iranian delegation led by Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni is in Pakistan to hold talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid an ongoing escalation with the US.

Momeni, who arrived in Pakistan on Monday evening for talks, was received by his counterpart Mohsin Naqvi, who had invited him to visit Islamabad.

Momeni laid a floral wreath on the Yadgar-e-Shuhda and was briefed about the monument. A smartly turned-out contingent of the Federal Constabulary presented a guard of honour to the visiting dignitary.

(PTI)

Residents of Kuwait, one of the world's hottest countries, are cutting their use of air conditioning at the height of summer, as Iranian strikes on power plants turn rationing into a national priority.

Kuwaiti authorities have called on the public to consume less energy so that they can maintain round-the-clock electricity as the grid comes under Iranian attack.

Nasser Al-Dhafiri, a civil servant in his forties, described "immense psychological pressure" on ordinary people as the attacks sparked fears of electricity outages.

(AFP)

Kuwait says Iran hit several power, water plants on Monday 

(AFP)

Iran stepped up its attacks in the Middle East on Tuesday, two weeks after its war with the United States resumed, with sirens sounding in Bahrain and Jordan announcing it had intercepted two waves of missiles and drones.

Iran's Yemeni allies, the Houthis, declared they would blockade Saudi Arabia's ports, in what would throw the world's energy markets into further chaos after the Islamic republic blockaded the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards meanwhile said they had attacked and stopped two "non-compliant oil tankers" attempting to transit Hormuz, which Tehran has blockaded to avenge the US-Israeli attack that kickstarted the war on February 28.

(AFP)

An Iranian official began meetings Tuesday with mediators in Pakistan as diplomats sought to salvage the collapsed interim deal between Iran and the United States, even as both countries continued to launch attacks for a 10th day of renewed fighting.

The visit by Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni comes as Pakistan has intensified diplomatic efforts in recent days to resuscitate the deal. However, it remains unclear just what new arrangement could be reached to end the fighting.

Iran attacked a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday, forcing its crew to abandon the ship, while the United States conducted yet another round of airstrikes targeting the Islamic Republic.

(AP)

Bahrain's military on Tuesday said it had intercepted a number of Iranian attacks, nearly two weeks into the resumption of US-Iran hostilities that have included daily attacks on the Gulf kingdom.

"The air defences of the Bahrain Defence Force intercepted and destroyed a number of Iranian aerial aggressions," the military said in a statement on X.

The announcement came as the United States said it struck Iranian military command centres, air defence systems and missile launch sites in overnight attacks.

Jordan's military said Tuesday it had intercepted five drones launched by Iran targeting the kingdom.

The military made the announcement through the state-run Petra news agency.

It said the interception did not cause casualties or any damage on the ground.

Jordan hosts U.S. forces and aircraft in the country, and has been repeatedly targeted by Iran as the interim deal with the U.S. has collapsed over the fight for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Trump administration on Monday identified two soldiers killed in action last week as part of the US war with Iran. The Defense Department said in a statement that 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, were killed in Jordan, where they were supporting a U.S. mission against the Islamic State. It’s unclear how they were killed.

On Saturday, the US Central Command had two service members were killed in Jordan while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. The US military has said the total number of deaths in the war with Iran is 17.

Yemen's Houthi rebels announced a maritime embargo of Saudi Arabia on Monday, stepping up the US-Iran war as the rebels threatened the top oil exporter's ability to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. The Iran-backed group did not say how it planned to impose the embargo, whose declaration came as Iran said it was back to a "full-scale war" with the United States, and as Washington and Tehran battled to control the strait.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis traded fire last week for the first time in years, threatening a 2022 truce that has held despite expiring. The exchange of strikes was set off when an Iranian plane attempted to land in Sanaa, challenging Saudi Arabia's hegemony over Yemeni skies.

The Houthis' naval blockade, if enforced, could further strain Saudi Arabia's economy by cutting off access to its Red Sea ports, which have been vital for oil exports as renewed fighting limits passage through the Strait of Hormuz. The blockade is also expected to hurt global markets that rely on Saudi Arabia -- which produces over 10 million barrels of crude per day -- for energy imports.

The rebels declared "a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of 'an eye for an eye', effective immediately", military spokesman Yahya Saree said.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, warned that the threat from the Houthis risked an "even wider" regional conflict.

Iran attacked a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday, forcing its crew to abandon the ship even as the United States conducted yet another round of airstrikes targeting the Islamic Republic over control of the key waterway.

The 10 consecutive nights of US airstrikes haven't compelled Tehran to loosen its grip on the strait, through which about a fifth of all crude oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime.

Even as the US and Iran inch closer to all-out war again, Iran’s interior minister traveled to Pakistan, a key mediator in the conflict, for talks. However, it remains unclear just what new deal could be reached to end the fighting.

The interim deal signed last month that was meant to end the fighting has crumbled. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has largely stalled. And as fighting intensifies, both sides have targeted civilian infrastructure relied on by millions of people.

“Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other US interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world,” the US State Department said in a new warning to Americans.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday said that Tehran is engaged in a "full-scale war" with the United States, asserting that the conflict extends beyond military strikes and warning that the country must accept the consequences of its resistance while continuing to defend its national interests.

Addressing a meeting of Iran's Supreme Judicial Council, Pezeshkian said, "The reality is that today the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war. Today's war is not simply a war of missiles; the enemy has come to the conclusion that it cannot force the Iranian nation to surrender through military attacks."

According to Iran's ISNA news agency, the President said the economy and people's livelihoods had become the principal arena of confrontation with the country's "enemies".

Honouring those killed in "recent imposed war", Pezeshkian said their deaths placed a responsibility on the country's leadership to continue pursuing "the dignity, independence, and progress of Islamic Iran."

The US State Department on Monday issued an alert urging American citizens around the world to "exercise increased caution" over the war with Iran.

The alert said that "due to heightened tensions in the Middle East, the security environment remains complex with the potential for unforeseen escalation."

"Americans outside the Middle East should reconsider travel to and through the region," it said, while warning of the heightened possibility of attacks targeting US diplomatic facilities "or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world." (AFP)