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JERUSALEM — The United States launched a fresh barrage of strikes on Iran overnight after Tehran opened a second front in its pressure campaign on the world economy.
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President Donald Trump threatened a major new escalation and on Thursday told Axios he is weighing whether to launch a “massive attack” on the Islamic Republic that would be “bigger than ever before.” The president’s warning and subsequent 13th night of military strikes came as oil briefly surged above $100 a barrel.
Iran has shown little sign of bowing to U.S. demands, launching new attacks on shipping as well as U.S. bases and allies across the Middle East. These two fronts have combined to increase the cost of the renewed conflict — in human lives, including American soldiers, and global prices.
The struggle for control of the crucial Strait of Hormuz has now been extended to another key trade route, the Bab el Mandeb strait, after attacks by Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
And there were signs that some U.S. partners in the region may be losing patience. Senior Arab officials told NBC News they were growing frustrated with the threats, the daily escalations and the lack of diplomatic progress.
“We have no clue where this is going,” said one senior Arab official, with direct knowledge of regional developments. “It’s only getting crazier,” said another senior Arab official, directly involved with diplomatic efforts.
Trump said Thursday there would be “major military punishment” for both Iran and the Houthis after the Yemen-based rebels struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, days after saying they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia.
“If they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.
Later in the day he also said Washington would use Iranian assets held by the U.S. to pay for “any damages to Ships, Cargo, or anything related thereto,” sparking outcry from Tehran.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the threat an “incendiary precedent.”
“Those who celebrate or profit from such funds should remember: once governments normalize confiscation, no one’s assets are safe,” Araghchi said in a post on X early Friday local time.
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has ground to a near-standstill amid the continued Iranian attacks.
The sole vessel to cross fully through the strait Thursday was the New Giant oil tanker, heading for Rizhao in China.
The picture was less clear in the Red Sea, where some ships have turned around in the face of the Houthi threat but traffic did not seem to have slowed overall.
In the Bab el Mandeb strait Thursday, eight tankers traveled north through the chokepoint into the Red Sea, with 14 traveling south into the Gulf of Aden, according to an NBC News analysis of MarineTraffic data.
Some ships may have had their transmitters switched off, and so actual numbers may be higher.
With both blockades fueling fears over global energy supplies, the price of international benchmark Brent crude oil jumped above the $100 a barrel threshold Thursday for the first time since May before dropping back down. As of Friday morning, it hovered around $97 a barrel.
And the two sides continued to exchange airstrikes.
U.S. Central Command said it had completed a 13th straight night of strikes against Iran at 9 p.m. ET Thursday.
CENTCOM said it targeted “Iranian military command centers, drone storage facilities, communication networks, coastal surveillance sites, and maritime capabilities to further diminish the threat Iran poses to civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
Impacts were reported across Iran, with state-run news agency IRNA reporting that four people were killed and five injured in the area of Ahvaz.
Tehran launched new strikes, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claiming to have hit storage warehouses at a U.S. base in Kuwait, and a control tower of the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain. Explosions were reported near a military base hosting U.S. forces in northern Iraq.
And as fears of further escalation grow, hopes the peace process may be revived have dimmed.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Thursday paid his first official visit to Iran since assuming office in May, notable given Iraq’s close ties to both Washington and Tehran.
Trump said Thursday that Iran did “want to negotiate” but was not prepared to make a deal yet.
“They haven’t received enough pain yet,” he told Axios.
Richard Engel reported from Jerusalem, and Chantal Da Silva and Matthew Mulligan from London.
NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent
Chantal Da Silva reports on world news for NBC News Digital and is based in London.
Matthew Mulligan is a senior reporter for the NBC News Social Newsgathering team based in London.
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