Trump Vows Military Punishment for Iran Over Red Sea Attacks
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- Trump vowed "major military punishment" for Iran and the Houthis after Yemeni fighters struck Saudi oil tankers Encelia and Layla in the Red Sea, writing on social media he'd hold Iran accountable because the Houthis are its "Surrogate and/or Proxy."
- Brent crude surged more than 6%, piercing $100/barrel for the first time since May, as fears mounted that disruption could widen to block another major sea route.
- The U.S. military has launched air strikes on Iran for 13 consecutive nights, while Iran reported retaliatory strikes on Qeshm Island on the Strait of Hormuz and on U.S. missile systems in Jordan and military posts in Kuwait — Jordan said it intercepted four Iranian missiles and six drones.
- A U.S. missile attack on the Iranian city of Ahvaz killed four people and injured five, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
- Red Sea shipping insurance costs doubled for some companies, and only one tanker crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday — the lowest since May 7 — with several vessels rerouting north toward the Suez Canal on longer, more expensive routes around Africa.
- The Republican-led U.S. House backed legislation directing Trump to halt military action against Iran, the latest congressional rebuke, while the Senate voted hours later to block a similar measure.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arachi warned that using frozen Iranian assets to pay for tanker damages sets "an incendiary precedent," adding that "no one's assets were safe" once governments normalize confiscation.
Why it matters: The war now threatens two simultaneous shipping chokepoints: with only one tanker crossing Hormuz on Thursday and Red Sea insurance costs doubling, rerouting around Africa adds cost and delay to energy flows that already face Iran's effective Hormuz closure, while Trump's plan to pay damages with seized Iranian assets opens a legal flashpoint with Tehran.
