US Escalates Strikes on Iran Amid Shipping Route Tensions

The US military launched its 13th night of strikes against Iran on Thursday, targeting key military and commercial sites in an effort to 'further degrade Iran's ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters.'

The attacks came after Yemen's Houthi rebels said they targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, potentially widening the conflict as international oil prices topped $100 a barrel.

Blasts were also reported on Qeshm Island, home to stores of naval assets that Iran can use to attack vessels on the Strait of Hormuz, as well as to the northwest near Andimeshk, Omidiyeh and Firuzabad. Four people were killed and five wounded in a US missile attack on the outskirts of Ahvaz on the Karun River.

The Houthis threatened to shut down another key trade route, with the world economy already reeling from Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The conflict has set off a scramble for alternative routes as both sides vie for control of the strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil and gas transits in peacetime.