US military says it’s launching new strikes on Iran as clashes escalate over shipping lanes 42%
By Associated Press60%
7/23/2026, 11:10:52 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 20 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Availability Heuristic, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 12.3% saturation with 129 hits. Analysis detected 1,101 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,052 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 46.2% and a BS Rank of 42% (12,731 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 58.20% of the article peer group.
By ELENA BECATOROS, FATMA KHALED and COLLIN BINKLEY
CAIRO (AP) — The U.S. military announced Thursday that it is conducting the 13th night of strikes against Iran as clashes escalate over shipping routes.
Earlier Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, potentially widening the Iran war as international oil topped $100 a barrel.
U.S.
Central Command said the latest attacks are designed to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters” as the Americans push to regain control over the Strait of Hormuz and restore the flow of international shipping.
A short time later, Iranian state media reported explosions along the strait in Bandar Abbas and Qeshm, as well as to the northwest near Andimeshk and Omidiyeh.
Meanwhile, the Houthis threatened to shut down another key trade route, with the world economy already reeling from Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The threat came as Iran and the U.S. have stepped up attacks as they vie for control of the strait, through which a fifth of the world's oil and gas transited in peacetime, setting off a scramble for alternative routes.
President Donald Trump threatened “major military punishment” against the Houthis if their attacks on ships continue.
“If they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves,” Trump wrote on social media.
As the rhetoric escalated, so did the economic fallout.
The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked more than 6% Thursday, to about $100 a barrel.
That is the highest level since May, before the two sides reached a preliminary peace agreement last month that has since collapsed.
Houthi attacks are a ‘double whammy’ on oil shipments
The Houthis' SABA news agency said the rebels had struck two tankers, the Encelia and the Layla, in the Red Sea, causing fires on both.
There were no reports of casualties.
It was the first reported Houthi attack on a vessel since they announced a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait earlier this week in retaliation for the kingdom’s blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on the international airport in Yemen’s rebel-held capital, Sanaa.
Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is a vital shipping chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
Around 12% of the world’s trade, including a fourth of global container traffic, passes through there, moving between Europe and Asia via Egypt’s Suez Canal.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency reported an attack set the Encelia ablaze overnight in the Red Sea.
It did not mention the Layla.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said it received a report of a tanker being struck by “an unknown projectile” 130 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of Al Shuqaiq, Saudi Arabia, in the Red Sea.
The Houthi attacks put at risk oil shipments from Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port on the Red Sea and present a “double whammy” on top of the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, said maritime data and analysis firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
Saudi Arabia has diverted millions of barrels a day of oil exports to Yanbu via an overland pipeline as the war has bottled up the Persian Gulf.
The Houthi threat “raises questions on the viability of this route,” Lloyd’s said in slides accompanying an online webinar Thursday.
The rebels say they are blockading Saudi Arabia, but during their announced blockade of Israel at the height of the war in Gaza, they targeted many vessels with little or no connection to that conflict, disrupting global trade.
Both sides dig in over Strait of Hormuz
Iran says it has the right to manage traffic and potentially charge fees in the Strait of Hormuz, which was open to all toll-free before the war.
It has attacked ships using a route through the strait that is overseen by U.S. forces and intended to be outside Tehran’s control.
Trump said on social media Thursday that sanctioned Iranian funds in the possession of the U.S. will cover the expense of fixing boats damaged in the war.
“Please let this statement serve to represent, until further notice, that from this point forth, any and all damages done to Ships, Cargo, or anything related thereto, will be paid for by Iranian Money that the United States has in its possession, and controls,” Trump said.
It was unclear what legal mechanisms Trump would use to access and spend the funds, but he said that doing so would be “the fair and equitable thing to do.”
In response to Iran’s attacks, the U.S. began the widening campaign of strikes across Iran and restored a naval blockade of Iran's ports.
U.S.
Central Command said it has redirected about a dozen commercial vessels and disabled one since the blockade resumed.
The war of words has also escalated.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran would adopt an “eye for an eye” policy on U.S. strikes against its infrastructure.
U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio retorted that Trump's policy is “a head for an eye.”
“The price will continue to get higher every single night until they come to their senses,” Rubio told reporters while traveling in the Philippines for a regional summit.
Iran's health ministry said Thursday that 55 people have been killed and 629 have been wounded since renewed U.S. airstrikes began on June 27.
Iran has responded to U.S. attacks by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants providing drinking water in parched neighboring Gulf countries.
Polls have shown the war is unpopular among Americans, a fact reflected in the narrow passage Thursday of a resolution in the U.S.
House to halt the war.
Though a handful of Republicans crossed party lines to support the measure, the vote remained largely symbolic.
Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece, and Binkley from Washington.
Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Michelle L.
Price and Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Matthew Lee in Washington; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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