Trump will attend the dignified transfer of 4 US service members killed in the Middle East

Key Oil Chokepoints in Mideast Face Disruption as Threats Mount Shipping disruptions in key Middle East chokepoints intensified as the US-Iran war grinds on, with vessels in the Red Sea making unusual maneuvers, while visible traffic through the Strait of Hormuz sank.

(Bloomberg) — Shipping disruptions in key Middle East chokepoints intensified as the US-Iran war grinds on, with vessels in the Red Sea making unusual maneuvers, while visible traffic through the Strait of Hormuz sank. In the Red Sea, at least one vessel u-turned to head north toward the Suez Canal, while others paused their journeys, maritime-tracking data showed.

The voyage shifts follow threats from the Tehran-backed Houthi militant group in Yemen to fully blockade all ships calling at Saudi Arabia’s ports. tap here to see other videos from our team. Back to video In the Strait of Hormuz — which links the Persian Gulf to global markets — only three commodity vessels were observed transiting on Tuesday, Kpler tracking data showed.

That’s the lowest daily count since early May. Early Wednesday, the waterway remained deserted, with no observable traffic. Global energy markets are on edge as the conflict between the US and Iran reignites, with both sides trading tit-for-tat strikes for more than a week.

At the heart of concerns are signs that exports via the Red Sea — a crucial conduit for Saudi flows rerouted from the Persian Gulf — are now at risk given the Houthi threat. Brent futures have spiked more than quarter this month. The Houthi militant group in Yemen is ready to attack shipping from positions near the Bab el-Mandeb strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, according to a global monitoring body for naval security.

“The Houthis have completed preparations to attack shipping, including the deployment of missiles and drones,” the Joint Maritime Information Center said in an alert late Tuesday, citing sources it did not identify. In the Red Sea, liquefied petroleum gas tanker Gas King switched to sailing out of the region via the Suez Canal, after picking up a cargo from the Saudi port of Yanbu.

Initially, the very large gas carrier — which appears to be heading for Japan — had been sailing south, only to u-turn. It’s unusual for Asia-bound vessels within the Red Sea to head north given that route entails far higher costs because of the longer voyage around the African continent, plus additional fees to transit the Suez Canal.

Separately, supertanker New Explorer, carrying Saudi oil and bound for Singapore, appears to be idling in the Red Sea after picking up a cargo from Yanbu, the data show. It’s unclear why the 2025-built vessel has come to a near-stop, with its current status showing “not under command”.

In addition, an Aframax vessel, Lahore, also came to a halt after receiving a Saudi cargo. Earlier this week, a handful of oil tankers were seen pausing and u-turning from their planned routes, after several shipowners received an email from the Houthi rebels warning against calling at Saudi ports.

Still, one of those vessels, Xin Long Yang, has since reverted to its original route, and is now sailing toward Bab el-Mandeb. News Taxes - Advertisement 1Story continues below FP Comment Innovation Financial Times In the Red Sea, loadings at the Saudi port of Yanbu — which receives crude flows from Persian Gulf fields via the kingdom’s East-West pipeline — appeared to continue Wednesday, with some tankers signaling that they’re berthed at the facility.

On Tuesday, some Asian buyers of Saudi oil were still sending tankers into the Red Sea in the hopes of picking up their cargoes. In the days ahead of the Houthi threat, the kingdom had exported record volumes of crude from its terminals on the Red Sea, shipping out 5.

9 million barrels a day from the two terminals at Yanbu in the week up to July 17, according to tanker tracking compiled by Bloomberg.

- President Donald Trump threatened to bomb an Iranian underground nuclear facility known as Pickaxe Mountain. - The president's comments have put renewed focus on one of Iran's most secure and protected facilities. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb an Iranian underground nuclear facility in the latest escalation of the war between the two countries.

U.S. Central Command has bombed Iranian targets for 11 straight nights, including military operations centers, drone storage facilities, and military logistics infrastructure as it seeks to weaken the country's ability to control commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. and Iran had signed an interim memorandum of understanding on June 17 that halted military operations, called for the reopening of Hormuz and established a 60-day window for negotiating a permanent agreement, including terms covering Iran's nuclear program.

But the document left the future management of the Strait of Hormuz unresolved. Trump's comments on Pickaxe Mountain have put renewed focus on one of Iran's most secure and protected facilities. Here's what we know. What has Trump said about Pickaxe Mountain?

Speaking from Washington on Tuesday, the president said that the U.S. military will soon be targeting Pickaxe Mountain — a key underground site next to an Iranian nuclear facility. "We'll be hitting that area very probably pretty soon, and there's not a thing they can do about it.

Normally I wouldn't say that; if I thought they could do something about it I would never say that, but we'll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily," Trump told reporters in the White House. Such an attack would be considered "an explosion of war in the region," Iran's Khatam Al-Anbiya military command said in comments reported by the BBC from state-run broadcaster IRIB.

They also threatened strikes on "all the interests of America, the allies and supporters." Located south of Iran's Natanz enrichment plant, Pickaxe Mountain, or Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La as it is known in Iran, began construction in 2020. At the time, Iran said that the underground facility would replace a centrifuge plant at Natanz that had been destroyed, according to the Institute for Science and International Security.

— CNBC's Lim Hui Jie helped contribute to this report.

Iran war briefing: Trump threatens to strike Iranian nuclear site - Donald Trump threatened to renew strikes on Iran's heavily fortified "Pickaxe Mountain" nuclear site, which experts believe is likely too deep for current US bunker-buster missiles.

- The US Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, estimated the war's financial toll at $37.5bn and is seeking an additional $67bn from Congress, while at least 18 US troops have died and over 400 have been injured, according to US officials. - Iran claimed to have struck US military targets in Kuwait and Amazon’s central data infrastructure in Bahrain, in response to the US’s alleged attack on the "civilian facilities of Darkhovey".

- US military concluded its eleventh consecutive night of strikes on Iranian military infrastructure, targeting operations centres, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities and logistics infrastructure to degrade Iran's ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Iran's demand to control and levy tolls on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz would endanger the global economy.

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen announced on Monday that they would block maritime trade with Saudi Arabia, a move that could further strain global energy markets already affected by Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. It remains unclear whether the Houthis would resume attacks on shipping as part of their proposed naval embargo on Saudi Arabia.

ALSO READ: Iran Targets Amazon Data Infrastructure In Bahrain, Attacks US Military Base In Jordan The Red Sea has emerged as a vital substitute route for Gulf oil and other goods, with Hormuz already hampered. A significant disruption would result in the simultaneous closure of both of the Middle East's main oil export routes.

The majority of Gulf oil and other exports were halted by Iran's partial blockage of the Strait of Hormuz following an attack by Israel and the United States on February 28, which increased prices and caused a global energy shock. In response, Saudi Arabia shifted over 70% of its regular daily petroleum exports to Yanbu, a port on the Red Sea.

Ships from Yanbu travel north via the Suez Canal on their way to Europe. Bab el-Mandeb is the southern route taken by those travelling to Asia. Shipments from Yanbu have surged from about 973,000 barrels per day a year ago to around 4 million bpd in recent weeks, according to Kpler and Signal Ocean.

Kpler data also showed oil volumes passing through Bab el-Mandeb rose from 4.2 million bpd to 7.4 million bpd in June, helping keep global oil prices in check. According to a report from Reuters last week, Saudi Arabia is thinking about extending its pipeline for crude oil to the Red Sea shore.

Gulf oil shipments remained unaffected even after the Houthis began attacking vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023. ARE THE HOUTHIS CLOSING RED SEA ENERGY ROUTES ON IRAN'S BEHALF? In the 1990s, the Houthis became a military, political, and religious force in northern Yemen, waging guerrilla warfare against the Sanaa government.

They have been engaged in a civil war with the internationally recognised government supported by Saudi Arabia for almost ten years, and they have used drones and missiles to attack Gulf neighbours. But until last week, when Yemen's internationally recognised government claimed to have attacked Sanaa airport to prevent an Iranian plane from arriving, a 2022 truce between the nation's warring factions remained largely intact.

Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia, who retaliated by firing missiles at Abha airport in the mountainous southwest of the kingdom. Then, in an appearance on Iran's Press TV website, Mohammad al-Farah, a prominent Houthi leader and member of the politburo, threatened to seal Bab el-Mandeb if the situation continued to worsen.

Iran supports the Houthis as part of its "Axis of Resistance" in the region, which also includes Iraqi Shi'ite militias and Hezbollah in Lebanon; however, its connections to the Yemeni movement are less obvious than those of those other groups. ALSO READ: Ceasefire And Hormuz Reopening Or Wider Conflict?

Trump Faces Crucial Decision On Iran War, Says Report Unlike Hezbollah and the Iraqi parties, the Houthis do not see Iran's supreme leader as their supreme religious authority. Despite the group's ideological alignment with Iran, their aims are mostly domestic.

The United States claims that Iran, with assistance from Hezbollah, has provided the Houthis with weapons, money, and training. The Houthis claim to create their own weaponry and deny being an Iranian proxy. The extent to which the group is acting on Iran's behalf or in accordance with its own geopolitical interests regarding Bab el-Mandeb and the Red Sea is unclear.

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