Saudi Arabia has condemned an Iranian attack on an oil tanker owned by its national shipping company that resulted in the deaths of two citizens of the Philippines. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said Iran targeted the Sidr tanker, owned by national carrier Bahri, while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz two days earlier. “The kingdom stressed the necessity of halting escalations, and respecting international maritime safety and the security of global energy supplies,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement. Saudi Arabia’s regional neighbours also condemned the attack, one of several recent incidents in the US-Israeli war with Iran launched on February 28. Kuwait and Qatar’s foreign ministries said the attack violated international law and freedom of maritime navigation. Qatar called the attack a “flagrant violation of the rules of international law and freedom of maritime navigation”. Doha further rejected the use of the Strait of Hormuz as a “bargaining chip”. Bahri, meanwhile, also confirmed the death on social media. “Bahri confirms that its vessel SIDR was involved in a security incident while transiting the Strait of Hormuz” late on Monday, it said. “Bahri remains in continuous contact with the vessel and is coordinating closely with the relevant authorities and maritime industry stakeholders, while continuing to closely monitor developments,” it said. Iran has repeatedly attacked and threatened tankers attempting to sail through the strategic waterway without authorisation, impeding energy exports from neighbouring oil-rich Gulf countries. The US has maintained that vessels can safely transit the waterway, through which traffic has slowed considerably. Washington has promised to continue its counter-blockade of Iranian ports indefinitely. Overnight Monday into Tuesday, unidentified projectiles struck two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, Greek maritime risk management firm Marisks had said. Both vessels loaded two million barrels of crude at Juaymah on Saudi Arabia’s east coast last week, according to Kpler data. On Wednesday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said two oil tankers caught fire after striking mines while transiting the strait. Before the US-Israel war with Iran began, about 20 percent of the world’s oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz. In July, another Bahri vessel, the Wedyan supertanker, was hit while passing through the strait close to Oman’s coast. Two other Bahri vessels, Masa and Amzan, were attacked in the Red Sea in July and August after Yemen’s Houthis declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has condemned an Iranian attack on an oil tanker owned by its national shipping company that resulted in the deaths of two citizens of the Philippines. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said Iran targeted the Sidr tanker, owned by national carrier Bahri, w…
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US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that recent Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure are contributing to a global "energy shock" and increased prices, a view supported by Kpler data showing refinery runs fell to roughly 3.
8 million barrels per day in July. These disruptions have coincided with existing market strains, with Bessent also citing impacts from the conflict involving Iran.
According to two US officials, American military forces escorted 40 commercial vessels carrying approximately 18 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday while striking 60 targets and reportedly neutralizing various threats. These officials described the operation as a peak in recent activity, noting that it occurred amid continued exchanges of strikes between the US and Iran, although the source notes that the broader conflict lacks a near-term resolution.
United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln made port in eastern Thailand in the crew’s first port call after nine and a half months at sea, following a taxing deployment in the Middle East amid reports of supply issues, deteriorating mental health conditions and low morale on board.
Carrying a crew of 5,000, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was seen making its way into the Laem Chabang port in Chonburi province early on Wednesday, shortly after the destroyer USS Frank E Petersen Jr sailed past the area, accompanied by other US naval vessels.
By afternoon, busloads of plainclothes sailors and Marines arrived at a resort hotel in Pattaya, a coastal city 150 kilometres (93 miles) southeast of Bangkok. Thai officials have said the Lincoln’s stop would be for rest and recovery before returning to its US base.
The Lincoln had been anchoring the US naval blockade and combat operations during the US-Israeli war on Iran. While crew members remained out of reach for comment, the ship’s weathered hull was noticeable, and the ship itself looked due for at least a new paint job, according to The Associated Press (AP) journalists who were present on-site.
Large rust patches blemished the exterior, particularly along the waterline and the edge of the flight deck where fighters and helicopters sat parked. When asked about the aircraft carrier’s lacklustre appearance, Captain Dan Keeler, the Lincoln’s commanding officer, replied that “it is normal for a long deployment” and declined to comment further.
US President Donald Trump rejected concerns raised by families of the Lincoln’s crew members over the aircraft carrier’s winding deployment for weeks. Standard naval deployments span six to nine months, extending only during periods of heightened conflict.
Weeks ago at Joint Base Andrews, the home base for Air Force One, reporters had asked the president if the Lincoln had been at sea for too long. He responded, “No, not nearly long enough.” Questioned about his thoughts regarding Trump’s earlier remarks, the commanding officer said: “So, the president speaks for himself.
” He told AP, “That is what I think about that.” The sailors and Marines are expected to rest in Thailand for several days. “Our arrival in Laem Chabang provides a well-deserved opportunity for our Sailors and Marines to rest and recharge,” the commander of Carrier Strike Group 3, Rear Admiral Robert E Loughran, said in a statement.
“What this strike group has accomplished is truly historic. I could not be prouder of the exceptional professionalism and expertise demonstrated by every member of this team during our operations.” During his second term, Trump pledged to steer clear of protracted, high-cost military conflicts.
And after launching a joint war with Israel against Iran, the president and his advisers said the conflict would only last a matter of weeks. The war has now entered its seventh month.
United States President Donald Trump has suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz after himself, reasserting that the waterway is under Washington’s control despite near-daily Iranian attacks on ships in the area. Trump’s suggestion on Wednesday came less than 24 hours after the US struck several targets in Iran, killing at least four people, including two children, at a wedding in the southern city of Sirik. “Now that we have it under USA control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT???” Trump wrote in a social media post. “Like America itself, it would be ‘hotter’ than ever before!” Iran responded to Tuesday’s attack with missile launches against US bases in the region. The fighting pushed oil prices upwards by around 4 percent. Despite repeated claims by US officials that the Strait of Hormuz is now open and millions of barrels of oil are transiting through it daily, oil prices have not fallen in recent weeks. Iran continues to maintain that the waterway is closed and under its control. On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia accused Iran of carrying out a strike on an oil tanker that killed two people. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a monitoring agency affiliated with the British Royal Navy, has been reporting attacks on vessels in Hormuz almost every day.
In the US, the price of petrol is rising. It reached $4.12 per gallon (3.8 litres) on Wednesday, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), up from less than $3 before the war started on February 28. When Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu started the conflict by attacking Iran and killing its supreme leader earlier this year, the US president promised that the war would last for six weeks. But the promised quick end to what Trump initially dubbed a “little excursion” never materialised. The conflict entered its seventh month last week. Still, Trump has continued to claim victory and control over Hormuz, repeatedly claiming that Iran has been defeated militarily despite its ability to strike back against US interests in the region. After the US strikes on Tuesday, Trump sternly warned Tehran against retaliating, saying that Iran would be “hit again at a much harder and higher level” if it responds. But within hours, Iran’s military fired missiles and drones at US bases in Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq. The “Trump Strait” suggestion on Wednesday is the latest push by the US president to assert control over a conflict that critics say was a strategic misstep that is turning into a quagmire. Last month, Trump said he views the Strait of Hormuz as “American territory”. Last week, he unilaterally renamed Lake Ontario, which borders both the US and Canada, as “Lake America” due to the ongoing US trade disagreements with Canada.