The Iran-backed Houthis claimed their first attack on commercial ships in recent months, opening a new front in the U.S.-Iran war that has already disrupted global energy supplies and rattled bond markets.

The militant group, based in Yemen, said it targeted two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea with missiles and drones.

The Saudi government confirmed an attack on one refined-products tanker, called the Encelia. The British navy said a tanker was struck in the southern part of the sea near the Saudi town of Al Shuqaiq in the southern part of the sea. The Houthis said the second vessel was named Layla, which is a crude-oil carrier.

While it’s unclear if the ships were damaged, the move could effectively close another maritime chokepoint vital to energy markets, following Iran’s shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz. Some vessels are already avoiding the Bab el-Mandeb strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, with oil prices rising further.

Brent crude jumped 3.8% on Thursday to almost $98 a barrel, taking its gains since July 10 — around when the latest U.S.-Iran flare-up began — to roughly 30%.

The U.S. carried out its 12th consecutive day of airstrikes on Iranian military sites overnight, including missile and air-defense facilities. Iranian state TV reported one attack on the the passenger terminal at the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq, killing two people. Iran again fired upon U.S. bases and military sites in Kuwait and Jordan.

Trump has said American forces will destroy one bridge or power plant each time Iran shoots at vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has warned it will strike infrastructure and bridges in the region, including energy facilities, if Trump follows through on that threat.

The hostilities show little sign of easing, with neither the U.S. nor Iran backing down or saying it’s time for new negotiations. The attacks by the Houthis have escalated the conflict further, even if hostilities remain less intense than during the height of the war in March and early April.

Speaking in the Philippines capital of Manila, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on the Houthis to stay out of the conflict. President Donald Trump has said the U.S. will deal with the group, without saying how. He’s approved strikes on the Houthis in the past, but it’s not clear whether Washington would do so again while launching daily attacks against Iran.

The Red Sea has emerged as a vital workaround for crude exports, particularly from Saudi Arabia. The port of Yanbu became the main outlet for Saudi oil exports, allowing it to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, through which hardly any vessels are sailing.

Importantly for oil and shipping markets, the two tankers targeted by the Houthis appear to be Saudi Arabian and were performing domestic shipments. The Houthis have sent emails to international vessel owners, warning them not to go to the kingdom’s ports. Incidents involving non-Saudi vessels would add an extra layer of risk for the industry and shipping crews.

The Houthis are part of Iran’s Axis of Resistance, a loose alliance of armed groups funded and trained by the Islamic Republic but operating with a degree of autonomy. The Houthis, who control Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and the Red Sea port of Hodeida, disrupted shipping with drone and missile attacks after Israel began its assault against Hamas in Gaza in 2023. However, they ended that campaign in May 2025 in a truce with the U.S., which bombed them along with the U.K. and Israel.

The new Houthi strikes come days after the group said it would blockade Saudi ports in response to the kingdom’s attacks on Sanaa. Riyadh carried out an air campaign for around seven years to oust the Islamist group, before the two sides agreed a ceasefire in 2022.

Trump said Wednesday that Iran is “getting hit so hard” but added he isn’t at the point of seriously considering fresh talks.

“They’re not ready to make a deal because every time they make a deal, they want to change it and everything,” he said at a rally in Georgia.

Iranian officials have been similarly dismissive of the prospect of returning to the negotiating table.

The U.S. resumed a naval blockade of Iran soon after the flare-up in fighting about two weeks ago. It also ended a waiver on Iranian oil sanctions.

The moves and the skirmishing mean an interim U.S.-Iran peace deal signed in mid-June — designed to lead to negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program and a permanent peace deal in two months — has all but collapsed.

The U.S. says Iran must reopen Hormuz and stop attacking commercial ships for it to halt its bombing of the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the chief negotiator with the U.S., said no country in the Persian Gulf would be able to export oil if Tehran can’t.

“The equation of this war is clear: either everyone or no one,” he said on X. “If we cannot sell oil in the region, no one will sell oil.”

The economic fallout from the war, particularly high fuel prices, is weighing heavily on Americans as the November midterm elections approach. Trump has received poor marks for his handling of the economy and the conflict, polls show, putting his fellow Republicans at risk of losing control of Congress.

U.S. gasoline pump prices are back above $4 a gallon.

“It’s going to come down, maybe lower than when we even started — but just give me a little time,” Trump said Wednesday, referring to oil prices.

—With assistance from Sherif Tarek, Eltaf Najafizada and Julian Lee.

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