The US launched its 12th straight night of strikes on Iran as Donald Trump posted a B-1 bomber threat on Truth Social and maritime pressure built in the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz. The latest moves put commercial shipping on alert in two chokepoints that already sit inside an escalating US-Iran war.
Trump said the United States will bomb and destroy “ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT” if Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz. US military’s Central Command said the strait remains open for transit and that commercial vessels continue to use it with US military support.
Encelia in the Red Sea
Thursday’s shipping scare involved the Encelia, a Saudi-owned vessel targeted while sailing in the Red Sea. Saudi state news agency SPA said a fire broke out at the front of the ship and that all crew members aboard the Encelia were safe.
The crew members aboard the Encelia are the clearest human measure of the risk: they were on a ship that was hit in the same maritime corridor where the Houthis said on Wednesday they carried out missile and drone strikes on two Saudi oil tankers. The Houthis named the Encelia as one of the tankers hit, and the group said on Monday it was imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia.
Strait of Hormuz control claims
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it stopped three oil tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the three tankers were trying to pass through a mine-laden route south of the strait, that one of the three exploded and caught fire, and that the other two quickly turned around and turned back.
US military’s Central Command said the Strait of Hormuz remains open for transit regardless of IRGC threats and attacks. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, by contrast, said “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.”
Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz
The practical problem for shipping is not only the threats themselves but the overlap between two routes. The Houthis control areas near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, while Iran has hit tankers using a route hugging the Omani coast in recent weeks. Iran’s actions have already pushed up oil and petrol prices and stoked inflation.
Whether the reported attacks and threats lead to a real disruption in transit through the Strait of Hormuz is the immediate open question. For crews, ship operators, and cargo owners, the pressure now sits on every passage through the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, where military warnings and competing claims are moving faster than any clear de-escalation.
