Bahrain sounded emergency sirens in the early hours of Friday morning, alerting residents to seek shelter after detecting incoming fire — coming just hours after the U.S. military announced the conclusion of its 13th consecutive night of strikes against Iran.
The conflict, which began as a struggle for control over the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, has drawn Gulf nations into the crossfire as American and Iranian forces trade increasingly intense blows. Iranian state media reported that four people were killed and nine others injured in the latest round of bombardment.
A day earlier, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for targeting two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea — a move that threatens to broaden the conflict even further, with international oil prices climbing above $100 per barrel.
U.S. Central Command stated that the overnight strikes were intended to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters” as American forces work to reclaim control of the Strait of Hormuz. In peacetime, roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply passes through that waterway. The strikes were said to have concluded shortly before 5 a.m. local time Friday.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, whose country maintains close relationships with both the U.S. and Iran, traveled to Tehran on Thursday to appeal for peace and urge dialogue. His office said he pledged that Iraqi soil would not be used as a staging ground for attacks on Iran. Al-Zaidi had met with President Donald Trump earlier this month in Washington.
Iranian state media reported that four people were killed and five wounded when a U.S. missile struck the outskirts of Ahvaz, a city along the Karun River. Separately, two people were injured in a strike in western Iran’s Lorestan province, and two more were hurt by explosions in the port city of Bandar Abbas — a key hub for both military supplies and commercial cargo. Additional blasts were reported on Qeshm Island, which houses Iranian naval assets including drone boats capable of attacking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Strikes were also reported in Isfahan province, home to a major Iranian air base and a nuclear facility, as well as in the southwestern Khuzestan province and southern Fars province.
At the same time, the Houthi rebels threatened to shut down yet another critical global trade corridor — the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. That waterway connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and serves as a key passage for ships moving between Europe and Asia through Egypt’s Suez Canal. Approximately 12% of global trade, including a quarter of all container traffic, flows through it.
Maritime analysis firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence warned that Houthi attacks put Saudi oil shipments from the Red Sea port of Yanbu at risk, calling it a “double whammy” on top of the disruption already caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia had rerouted millions of barrels of daily oil exports to Yanbu through an overland pipeline as the war choked off the Persian Gulf.
President Donald Trump issued a stern warning to the Houthis, threatening “major military punishment” if their attacks on ships do not stop.
The escalating tensions sent the price of Brent crude oil — the international benchmark — surging more than 6% to around $100 a barrel. That marks the highest level since May, before a preliminary peace deal between the two sides collapsed last month.
Iran has asserted that it holds the right to manage and potentially collect fees from vessels using the Strait of Hormuz, which had previously been open to all ships free of charge. Iran has been targeting ships using a route through the strait that U.S. forces oversee and that was intended to operate outside Tehran’s authority.
Trump also posted on social media Thursday that sanctioned Iranian funds currently held by the United States would be used to cover the cost of repairing ships damaged in the conflict. “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 wrote. He called the move “the fair and equitable thing to do,” though it remained unclear what legal authority he would use to access and spend those funds.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pushed back sharply against the idea, writing on X that “once governments normalize confiscation, no one’s assets are safe. Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful.”
