Full story
Tankers hit in Red Sea
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi forces attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, with the official Saudi news agency confirming that one tanker was hit late on Wednesday and caused a fire.
The BBC reported that Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group targeted the Saudi-flagged tankers Encelia and Layla with missiles and drones, and that the Houthis would "continue their naval operations against the Saudi enemy".
The BBC also said the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency received a report that an "unknown projectile" struck a tanker about 130km (70 nautical miles) south-west of al-Shuqaiq, on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast, at 20:00 GMT (23:00 local time), causing a fire onboard but no casualties.
In parallel, the BBC said US President Donald Trump warned the Houthis on Thursday that if they did so again, the US would inflict "major military punishment" upon both them and Iran, as the US carried out a 12th consecutive night of strikes on Iran.
Condemnations and threats
Britain, France and Germany condemned the Houthi attacks on Saudi-flagged merchant ships, with the British Foreign Office saying in a statement that "these reckless acts endanger lives, threaten an environmental catastrophe, and threaten regional stability".
In the same BBC account of the incident, the UK government said: "Our Armed Forces are ready to keep the United Kingdom safe from any kind of attacks, whether it's on our soil or from abroad."
The BBC said Iranian state media reported two people were killed in US strikes on Wednesday night, while Jordan and Kuwait intercepted missiles and drones launched by Iran.
The BBC further reported that the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned the UK that any base used to attack it was a "legitimate target" following reports that US long-range B-1 bombers used in the strikes on Iran overnight had flown out of RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
Bab el-Mandeb at risk
The BBC said the Houthis announced a "maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia" on Monday and that Sarea claimed the Houthis had "forced approximately 10 ships to retreat and return," as the blockade and tanker attacks raised the risk of widening the war between the US, Israel and Iran.
The BBC described the Bab al-Mandab Strait as the narrow waterway off Yemen's south-western coast that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, and said the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed because of Iranian attacks.
In a separate AP account carried by myMotherLode, the Houthi threat to blockade Saudi Arabia was described as having the potential to widen the Iran war and further disrupt global oil supplies and international trade, with the Houthis saying they had closed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Saudi-linked shipping.
myMotherLode added that "Around 12% of the world’s trade, including a fourth of global container traffic, passes through the narrows," and said the threat alone could keep international shippers from using the route.
