Oil prices rise to six-week high as US-Iran tensions escalate

As ‌well ⁠as the renewed conflict over control of that key waterway, the Iran-aligned Houthis have opened a new front in the war by threatening to target vessels carrying Saudi oil in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis' naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea threatens to disrupt global energy supplies beyond the Gulf, while Iran's Revolutionary Guards' spokesperson also warned shipping companies that the Strait of Hormuz southern route is ⁠mined in ​a post on X.

The Houthis said they had carried out a military operation targeting two Saudi oil ​tankers, and maritime security reports ​said one of the ⁠vessels named by the group, the Saudi-flagged tanker Encelia, had been hit in the Red Sea.