Iran, Houthis strike tankers as US bombing continues: What’s the latest?

What Happened

The United States conducted a 12th consecutive night of strikes against Iran, with US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirming at 02:30 GMT on Thursday that it targeted Iranian military assets including maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage, coastal surveillance, and air defence sites. Iranian local officials and state media reported strikes in at least three cities in Khuzestan province—Shalamcheh (near the Iraqi border, where two were killed and 11 injured according to the deputy governor), Ramshir (an asphalt facility), and Andimeshk—as well as in Sirik (Hormozgan province, overlooking the Strait of Hormuz), Jask, and a power substation near the Bushehr nuclear plant causing a power outage; two naval search and rescue vessels were reportedly damaged in Hormozgan. Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed retaliatory attacks on US assets in Kuwait, stating it destroyed a military equipment warehouse, a Patriot missile defence system, and an MQ9 drone hangar at Ali Al Salem airbase, and later in Jordan, where it claimed to have destroyed a THAAD radar, a Patriot system, a C-RAM radar, and set fire to fuel tanks and a helicopter maintenance shed. The IRGC also asserted control over the Strait of Hormuz, saying an explosion set a tanker ablaze after it attempted a southern passage off the coast of Oman without coordination, warning the strait is 'completely closed' to oil tankers; the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre confirmed a ship fire 70 nautical miles off the Saudi coast. Separately, Yemen’s Houthis claimed a major operation against two Saudi oil tankers, the Encelia and the Layla, in the Red Sea using cruise and ballistic missiles and drones, with Saudi SPA confirming the Encelia was hit; the Houthis framed this as part of a 'siege-for-siege' campaign in retaliation for the Saudi-led blockade of Yemen.

Key Actors

Why It Matters

This multi-front escalation marks a dangerous widening of the Iran–US proxy conflict into the territories of regional US allies, with Iran directly striking American bases in Kuwait and Jordan while asserting a naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, and its Houthi allies closing the Bab al-Mandeb to Saudi shipping. The simultaneous attacks on critical chokepoints threaten global energy supply chains and risk drawing Gulf Cooperation Council states more deeply into a conflict that now combines land strikes, naval sabotage, and strategic infrastructure disruption, increasing the probability of direct state-on-state confrontation.

Watch For

Monitor further US airstrikes on Iranian assets, verification of IRGC claims regarding damage to US bases in Kuwait and Jordan, navigation developments in the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea—especially tanker traffic and any additional Houthi attacks—and Saudi Arabia’s military or diplomatic response to the targeting of its tankers. Also watch for IAEA reaction to the reported strike near the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which could raise nuclear safety concerns.