US and Iran trade strikes as Tehran blocks tankers from Strait of Hormuz | Africanews

Iran war spreads to Red Sea, civilian targets, CIA sites The U.S. has conducted a 12th night of airstrikes against Iran What happened Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on Thursday morning said they had attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, enforcing a threatened blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb waterway that Saudi Arabia has been using to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

The attack “threatened to open a new front in a war that has roiled the global economy” as the U.S. and Iran “vie for control of vital shipping lanes,” The Associated Press said. Both sides have also “increasingly threatened civilian infrastructure.” The U.

S. conducted a 12th night of airstrikes against Iran, which fired at U.S. allies in the region. Along with striking U.S. military bases, Iran has also hit several CIA sites, prompting U.S. intelligence to “investigate whether Russia assisted by providing targeting information or advanced drone technology,” Reuters said.

Who said what President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened on social media to “destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT” in Iran every time Tehran “shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran will respond in kind with an “eye for an eye” defense against the U.

S. and its enablers. “Current and former military officials caution it isn’t lawful to strike an adversary’s infrastructure for political purposes,” The Wall Street Journal said. The Week Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

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What next? Trump is considering “both a ceasefire and a significant military escalation” in Iran, Axios said. The Pentagon is “surging forces, medics and weaponry to the Middle East,” suggesting “Trump is considering escalating the conflict,” the Journal said.

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Reports from US media indicate that Iranian forces targeted a CIA station in Riyadh early in the conflict with the US and Israel, with additional claims that Russia provided assistance in locating US personnel and aircraft in the Gulf. These accounts, attributed to unnamed intelligence sources, emerged amid a meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Manila, where Ukraine was the stated focus.

The extent of any Russian role remains unverified.

The United States has deployed additional special operations forces and fighter squadrons to the Middle East, along with more than 150 medical personnel to a military hospital in Germany, following the deaths of at least seven US troops in attacks over the past week, according to flight tracking data and reports citing US officials.

A B-1 bomber conducted a mission against targets linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, described as the first such use since hostilities resumed approximately 12 days earlier. These movements coincide with statements from US officials regarding preparations for potential further casualties and considerations of expanded operations.

Vessel-tracking data show that the Chinese-owned crude carriers Xin Long Yang and Cosnew Lake transited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait southward on Thursday, each carrying roughly 2 million barrels of Saudi crude and announcing Chinese crew aboard. The vessels belong to COSCO Shipping and had turned back earlier in the week before resuming passage.

Yemen’s Houthi authorities stated they carried out attacks on two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea as part of a declared blockade, with UK Maritime Trade Operations reporting one vessel struck approximately 80 nautical miles off Al Shuqaiq.