Iran Strikes US Allies After Its Oil Tankers Destroyed

The Middle East war intensified on Tuesday as Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen struck several Saudi cities, US forces destroyed multiple Iranian oil tankers, and Iran targeted a US base in Jordan, according to Reuters. The Houthis attacked four cities in southern Saudi Arabia, wounding 73 people and setting oil installations ablaze in what appeared to be a major expansion of the six-month-old war. As oil markets priced in the Saudi attacks, US Central Command said it destroyed five Iranian crude carriers and posted video, calling it a response to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the prior two days, with no Americans harmed. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran will lose tankers each time it tries to hit US naval ships. Iran then fired ballistic missiles at a US base near Al Azraq in Jordan, according to an IRGC statement on state media. Iran said the missiles inflicted heavy damage, but Jordan said its air defenses intercepted 18 of 20 missiles, with two falling in unpopulated areas and no casualties. Iran has repeatedly targeted US allies during the war, including a July strike in Jordan that killed two US military personnel, and a separate IRGC statement claimed attacks on two US destroyers, which the US military had not addressed. Iran also threatened to target oil tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports, and a maritime security source said a liquefied natural gas tanker was damaged at the Emirati port of Khor Fakkan, though responsibility was unclear. After a calm August, renewed US-Iran exchanges drove Brent crude to its highest since July 23; futures jumped another dollar a barrel after the Jordan attack but stayed below $100. The Houthis said they launched a broad operation deep into Saudi territory, hitting an airbase in Khamis Mushait and state oil assets in Abha, Najran and Jazan, with NASA satellite images showing thick smoke over the Jazan refinery. Houthi strikes on southwestern Saudi Arabia risk worsening the war's global economic impact by disrupting Middle East energy supplies beyond the blockaded Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen for more than a decade, but a recent ceasefire there has broken down. The wider Gulf conflict has become a test of wills between the US and Iran, each betting competing blockades will force the other to yield: Washington is guiding ships through the Strait of Hormuz to boost oil flows while blockading Iran's exports. Central Command said the destroyed tankers were part of a shadow network funding the IRGC and its regional proxies, part of what Iran calls the "Axis of Resistance" including Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi Shi'ite militias and the Houthis.