U.S. carries out more Iran strikes as threats to oil trade deepen

U.S. forces completed a 12th straight night of strikes against Iran at around 10:30 p.m. ET, U.S. Central Command said.

The targets included "maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites, and air defense assets," CENTCOM said. "The strikes further degrade Iran's ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels."

CENTCOM said that, since resuming its blockade of Iranian ports, it has redirected nine commercial vessels and disabled another.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Thursday morning local time that it stopped three oil tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

In recent weeks, Iran has hit tankers using a route hugging the Omani coast to traverse the strait, in a bid to strongarm vessels into using its own waters and pay for safe passage.

"Three oil tankers, provoked and tempted by the child-killing American army, were trying to pass through the mine-laid route south of the Strait of Hormuz, but after one of them exploded and caught fire, the other two quickly turned around and turned back," the Guard said in a statement quoted by Iranian state media.

"The powerful IRGC Navy emphasizes that the Strait of Hormuz is under our control... and any ship that is deceived by the US and intends to pass without coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran will suffer the same fate," the Guard added.

The Kuwaiti army says it is working to intercept Iranian drones. The U.S.-allied Gulf state has come under frequent Iranian attack, particularly after rounds of U.S. strikes on Iran.

The U.S. military's Central Command said it has begun a 12th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, intended to "further degrade Iran's ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters."

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels claimed to attack two commercial oil tankers in the Red Sea on Wednesday, a move that could further snarl shipping.

The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre said Wednesday it received reports of a tanker being hit by an "unknown projectile" off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, causing an onboard fire. No casualties were reported.

At around the same time, a spokesperson for the Houthis said on social media that the group carried out an operation to attack two Saudi oil tankers. Days earlier, the Houthis threatened a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia, which has fought the Yemeni group for years.

The apparent strike could pose further problems for a shipping industry that is already struggling with Iranian threats to attack unapproved ships in t