Iran says strikes will continue as wider Middle East war hits shipping and oil markets

Iran said Thursday it would keep striking around the region as long as it remained under attack, while the Middle East war spread to new fronts and Yemen's Houthis attacked Saudi shipping in the Red Sea.

The source said the war had resumed after a ceasefire that lasted only a few weeks, bringing renewed disruption to the region and global energy markets as Iran and the United States battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Houthis joined the conflict this week, saying they had struck two Saudi oil tankers after declaring a blockade of Saudi ports. Jordan and Kuwait both reported intercepting strikes, while Iran's military and Revolutionary Guards said they were targeting US assets in both countries.

Iranian army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia said, according to state television, that the armed forces' retaliatory attacks would continue as long as what he described as US attacks on Iran's infrastructure and coastal areas continued.

US Central Command said it had carried out a 12th consecutive night of strikes on Iranian military targets. It said the strikes were intended to further weaken Iran's ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels in regional waters.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States would bomb Iranian civilian infrastructure each time Tehran fires at ships in the Strait of Hormuz. In a social media post, he said the US would destroy one bridge or power plant each time Iran shoots at a ship in the strait with a missile, rocket, drone or other weapon. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran would respond in kind to any attack on its infrastructure, writing that Iran's defence doctrine was "eye for an eye".

Iranian state media said Thursday that a US attack killed two people at Shalamcheh, on Iran's border with Iraq. It also reported that two US missiles hit Bushehr, where the source says Iran's only civilian nuclear plant is located and which it describes as a frequent target of US strikes.

The Houthis said they carried out missile and drone strikes on two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, the Encelia and the Layla. British naval security monitor UKMTO said the master of a tanker reported being hit by an unknown projectile about 70 nautical miles southwest of Al Shuqaiq, causing a fire that the crew was fighting. Saudi Arabia confirmed that the Encelia had been struck but did not comment on the other tanker.

The source said it remained unclear how fully the Houthis could enforce a blockade, but that the threat could add to the shock from the closure of Hormuz and affect Saudi Arabia's ability to bypass the strait for some oil exports.

In Hormuz, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had stopped three oil tankers from transiting. The Guards said the Strait of Hormuz was under their control and warned that any ship seeking to pass without coordination with Iran would face the same fate. The source said about one fifth of the world's oil passed through the route before the war.

Oil prices climbed again Thursday. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was up four percent at $97.80 a barrel, raising fears of higher consumer prices and slower global growth.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit in Manila, said the Houthis had been drawn into attacking Red Sea shipping by Iran. He said he hoped they would de-escalate.

Oman, described by the source as a key mediator in the longstanding war between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, said it was working to resume talks between the two sides and expressed great concern about the situation in the Red Sea.