A satellite image shows smoke coming out of an oil facility, as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday they targeted a number of sensitive crude oil supply and transport sites, according to a statement by the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Sare, in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, July 27, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ​has threatened to close “all other export corridors that benefit the U.S. and its allies”, Iranian media reported, after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz and ‌the U.S. reimposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports.

“Regional energy exports are either shared by all, or denied to ​all,” the IRGC said in a statement carried by Iran’s IRNA state news agency on Wednesday (July 15, 2026).

Analysts have said ⁠Iran has been signalling it may use its Houthi allies in Yemen to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea, opening a new front against Washington and putting two of the world’s most vital energy arteries at risk.

The narrow gateway links the Red Sea to the Gulf of ‌Aden, through which Saudi oil exports and a substantial share of global shipping pass.

A senior Houthi official warned on Monday (July 13, 2026) that the group was prepared to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — a move he said could send oil prices soaring ‌to $200 a barrel — if Saudi Arabia continued to attack Yemen, according to a report on Iran’s Press TV website.

Houthi forces fired ‌missiles ⁠at Saudi Arabia after accusing the Kingdom of bombing an airport under their control on Monday (July 13, 2026), breaking a four-year ⁠truce in the conflict between the Kingdom and the Iran-aligned group.

The Houthis have already shown they can choke global commerce through the Bab el-Mandeb. After the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, the Iran-backed group launched attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, saying it was targeting vessels linked to Israel in support of Palestinians.

The ​latest threat to global shipping comes a day after ‌the U.S. military said it began a fresh round of strikes “to continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”

The United States said Iran had attacked seven commercial ships over the last week, leading to nearly a dozen crew members being killed, missing or injured.

The U.S. military said late on Tuesday (July 14, 2026) that it hit dozens of military targets near the Strait ‌of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas. The wave of strikes lasted seven hours, the U.S. Central Command said in a ​statement.

‘End of America’s evils’

The IRGC said on Wednesday (July 15, 2026) that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until what it described as “the end of America’s evils”. Before the war began in February, about a fifth of global oil ⁠and gas shipments passed through Hormuz each day.

The Guards said they had targeted what they described as command-and-control, logistics, fuel and military equipment facilities belonging to the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, in response to the latest U.S. strikes in the Strait of Hormuz.

They also said ‌they had set fire to and destroyed what they described as a U.S. logistics facility in Kuwait’s Mina Abdullah and that their air force had struck what they described as a U.S. base at Azraq in Jordan, targeting aircraft hangars. They said some of the U.S. attacks had been launched from bases on Jordanian territory.

Earlier on Wednesday (July 15, 2026), Kuwait’s State news agency reported that a fire was brought under control at a site targeted in Iranian attacks. It was not immediately clear whether the fire was at the same site referred to in the IRGC statement.

Jordan’s air defence intercepted and shot down three ballistic missiles that entered the country’s airspace from Iranian territory early on Wednesday (July 15, 2026).

The hostilities ‌between Iran and the U.S. re-ignited last week, fraying an already fragile truce reached in June after several months of fighting that has killed thousands.

Trump threatens to hit energy targets

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday (July 14, 2026) threatened to hit Iranian power plants and bridges next week unless Tehran resumes negotiations.

“I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets,” Mr. Trump said in an ⁠interview with Fox News’ Trey Yingst.

U.S. negotiators had been in touch with their Iranian counterparts to tell them “you better make a deal”, Mr. Trump added.

As ⁠tensions escalated, Mr. Trump on Monday floated the idea of a 20% fee on shipping through the strait, which drew sharp criticism from the U.N. shipping agency and others. On Tuesday (July 14, 2026), he scrapped the idea and said, without providing details, that he ‌would instead seek investment deals with Gulf States.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday (July 15, 2026), after closing up 2% to a one-month high on Tuesday (July 14, 2026), as the latest attacks deepened a supply disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.

For the second straight session, Brent closed ​at its highest since June 12 and West Texas Intermediate at its highest since June 15. Both contracts rose further in early Wednesday (July 15, 2026) trading.

Published – July 15, 2026 12:11 pm IST

U.S. forces carried out strikes against Iran for a fourth day in a row and reimposed a naval blockade to prevent ships from sailing to or from the country’s ports.

While U.S. President Donald Trump backtracked on his threat to heavily tax ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, he warned he would expand U.S. strikes on Iran next week to target power plants and bridges if Tehran does not agree to a deal.

“Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News. “We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the latest strikes were aimed at “degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping” in the strait, the key shipping channel for Gulf oil and gas where Tehran has repeatedly carried out attacks on civilian vessels.

– AFP

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington today, as the U.S. administration piles pressure on Baghdad to curb Iranian influence.

His visit comes against the backdrop of renewed military escalation between the United States and Iran, Iraq’s main allies.

Washington and Tehran’s enmity has long turned Iraq into a proxy battleground and left successive governments struggling to maintain a delicate balance between the two foes.

Mr. Zaidi arrived in Washington yesterday for his first international visit since assuming office — a week-long trip during which he will meet Mr. Trump, U.S. officials and representatives of oil companies.

– AFP

Senators are seeking to block Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel funds until the Pentagon submits several overdue reports to lawmakers, including its investigation into a deadly strike on an elementary school in Iran at the start of the U.S.-Israeli war.

According to an annual defence authorization bill, filed this week, much of the travel funds for the Defence Secretary’s office may not be spent until Mr. Hegseth submits “unredacted civilian harm investigations,” including for the Feb. 28, 2026, strike on the Minab school. Officials have preliminarily said the U.S. was responsible for the strike, which was blamed on outdated intelligence.

Congress, which conducts oversight of the Pentagon, has not yet received the Defence Department’s report on the investigation. It is believed to have been completed last month.

-AP

Oil prices fell in early trading on Thursday (June 18) after the U.S. and Iran signed an interim agreement that would end the Iran war, ‌reopen the Strait of Hormuz and waive U.S. sanctions on Tehran’s oil, resolving the largest energy ⁠supply disruption in history.

Brent crude futures were down 89 cents, or 1.12%, at $78.66 a barrel as of 0005 GMT, ‌and U.S. West Texas Intermediate fell 98 cents, or 1.28%, to $75.81 a barrel.

The benchmarks resumed their ‌decline, reversing gains made on Wednesday after U.S. ‌President ⁠Donald Trump said he could resume his bombing campaign ⁠if Iran’s leaders “don’t behave”.

-Reuters

U.S. President Donald ‌Trump on Tuesday (June 16) issued a rare public rebuke of Israel’s military tactics in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah militants, saying it was unnecessary to bomb entire apartment ⁠buildings to hunt militants.

Mr. Trump, who in recent days had expressed his displeasure over Israeli attacks in Beirut that he said could have endangered his peace deal with Iran, said Israel has been fighting Hezbollah, the ‌Iran-aligned Lebanese militia, for “too long”. 

“Too many people have been killed. You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody, because ‌there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not ‌all ⁠Hezbollah,” Mr. Trump said at the G7 summit in France.

-Reuters

Oil prices rebounded on Tuesday (June 16, 2026) on concerns about the lack of details in a preliminary agreement ending the war between the U.S. and Iran and the realization the resumption of ‌supply through the key Strait of Hormuz may take longer than thought.

Brent crude futures gained 26 cents, ⁠or 0.3%, to $83.42 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose to $81.12 a barrel, up 46 cents, or 0.3%, as of 0108 ‌GMT. 

On Monday (June 15, 2026), oil prices fell by nearly 5% to their lowest close since March 4 after U.S. ‌President Donald Trump said a memorandum of understanding was signed ‌to ⁠end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

– Reuters

The UN nuclear watchdog has been unable to inspect nuclear facilities in Iran affected by the war last June, according to a confidential report by the UN nuclear watchdog circulated to member states.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that it “cannot provide any information on the current size, composition or whereabouts of the stockpile of enriched uranium in Iran or whether Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities.” 

The IAEA warned that it was “unable to discharge its safeguards responsibilities” that it has under the Safeguards Agreement of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, adding that it is “indispensable and urgent” for Tehran to implement its obligations under that Treaty.

– AP