Saudi oil tankers bound for India, China reroute after Houthi warning

WORLD Iranian state media reported US air strikes across multiple provinces, hitting Kabudarahang County in Hamadan province in west-central Iran. The US military said it has completed its 11th consecutive night of air strikes on Iran, targeting military operations centres, maritime assets, aircraft hangars, drone storage, and logistics infrastructure.

CENTCOM said the strikes aim to degrade Iran’s ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM said Iran has attacked more than 30 commercial vessels transiting the strait. "The unwarranted attacks have endangered hundreds of innocent mariners and undermined freedom of navigation," it said.

Despite the attacks, CENTCOM stated the Strait “remains open” and that since early May, US forces have helped facilitate the transit of about 900 commercial vessels and 450 million barrels of crude oil. Trump had threatened to expand strikes to Iranian energy plants, bridges, and the underground "Pickaxe Mountain" nuclear site, and to send ground troops to seize Kharg Island oil hub.

He said the US would target the mountain facility "pretty soon." Iranian state media reported US air strikes across multiple provinces, hitting Kabudarahang County in Hamadan province in west-central Iran. The deputy governor of Sistan and Baluchestan also confirmed attacks on the southeastern cities of Chabahar and Konarak, saying "the situation is under control.

" Other reports from Fars news agency said US forces struck a military site on the outskirts of Tabriz in northwestern Iran, and missile attacks targeted areas near Behbahan and Omidiyeh in southwestern Khuzestan province. The Revolutionary Guard said, "the operation to punish the aggressor continues.

" Further, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says the cost of the war on Iran has reached $37.5bn and tells Congress the Pentagon needs $90bn in additional funding. The $37.5 billion request covers costs of the Iran conflict through September 30, though it’s unclear how the Pentagon calculated the figure.

A Reuters source said the first six days of the war alone cost at least $11.3 billion. Hegseth warned military training and maintenance would be cut without urgent funding, and urged passage of both a supplemental request and a $1.5 trillion budget for 2027.

The funding is to operate in the Strait of Hormuz, bring down US energy prices, and deter Russia and China, he said while stressing the need for speed, scale, autonomy and AI in military operations. While testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Hegseth said the US has reimposed an "effectively impenetrable" blockade on Iran.

He said Iran is at its weakest military point in 47 years after US strikes degraded its missile capabilities and operations in the Strait of Hormuz.

Attacks between the United States and Iran continued across the Middle East on Tuesday, coinciding with a visit by Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni to Pakistan for talks on an interim ceasefire. U.S. President Donald Trump stated there was no interest in meeting and indicated possible strikes near an Iranian uranium enrichment site.

Reports describe ongoing U.S. airstrikes, an Iranian attack on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, and strikes on regional infrastructure.

US Central Command stated that it conducted an 11th consecutive night of strikes on Iranian targets beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, with the stated aim of reducing threats to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz; Iranian media reported explosions near Sirik.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the campaign had cost $37.5 billion to date and requested further funding, with his testimony interrupted by protesters. Republicans separately proposed a $95 billion military funding measure, and the administration permitted direct US flights to Lebanon.

Two oil tankers carrying Saudi crude to China and India reversed course in the Red Sea on Tuesday after threats from Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, as a widening Middle East conflict disrupted shipping through two of the world's most critical energy chokepoints.

US forces bombed targets in the south and west of Iran overnight, while Iran targeted US sites in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan and a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf. Iran said it had struck infrastructure belonging to Amazon in Bahrain, where the US tech company operates a regional data centre.

The Houthis, who control northern and western Yemen including the coast at the mouth of the Red Sea, announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on Monday. This opened a potential new front in the war, which has killed thousands of people across the Gulf since it began on February 28 with US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

In a letter to shippers, the Houthis threatened to attack any ships that load or discharge Saudi oil. US President Donald Trump said the Houthis had not yet shut the Bab el-Mandeb, the "Gate of Tears" strait leading into the Red Sea, and threatened to act against them if they did.

"So far it hasn't happened," Trump said. "If something like that happens, we take care of it." The US leader also confirmed that 18 US service members have been killed so far, including four in Iranian attacks on US military bases in Jordan and Iraq over the last few days, in a war that is unpopular among Americans and others affected by surging global energy costs.

The Houthi announcement already appeared to be having an impact. Two tankers which had just loaded Saudi crude bound for China and India at Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Yanbu made U-turns on Tuesday, heading towards the Suez Canal rather than out through the Bab el-Mandeb into the Indian Ocean.

"The developments represent the first confirmed changes to commercial tanker routing following the (Houthi) embargo and are likely to increase disruption to Saudi crude exports and regional shipping patterns," British maritime risk management group Vanguard said on Tuesday.

With the war shutting the Strait of Hormuz leading out of the Gulf, the Red Sea has served as the main alternate route out for millions of barrels of Saudi oil per day, diverted by pipeline through Yanbu. Oil prices gained more than 2 percent on Tuesday, with Brent crude hovering above US$91 a barrel and US gasoline back over $4 a gallon.

US Central Command said it had hit Iranian military command centres, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and air defence systems in its latest round of strikes, which have carried on nightly for more than a week and a half. Explosions were heard around the city of Shiraz in southern Iran, state media said.

Konarak and Chabahar on the southern coast and a civilian site outside the city of Abdanan in the west came under attack, media reports said. On Tuesday, Trump renewed his threats to again attack Iran's nuclear facilities at Natanz "pretty soon", which he said in June 2025 had been "totally obliterated" after the US military bombed the facility, buried in a mountain range, that month.

Iran promised it would retaliate. Fifty civilians have been killed and 500 wounded in the recent US strikes on Iran, a health ministry official said.