A damaged shipyard is visible in Iran’s Hormozgan province on July 19, 2026, after what Iranian officials described as U.S. attacks on 95 sites across 12 cities over the previous 10 days.
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The United States launched another wave of strikes on Iran late Monday, escalating a fast-moving regional crisis as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement threatened to enforce a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia — a move that could widen the conflict across the Middle East.
The renewed exchange of attacks unfolded as regional mediators reportedly delivered a proposed 10-day ceasefire to both Washington and Tehran, raising the possibility of reviving last month’s memorandum of understanding and slowing the spiral of retaliation.
U.S. Central Command said overnight that American forces carried out the latest strikes against Iranian targets at 9 p.m. ET on Monday.
“U.S. forces struck Iranian military command centers, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defense systems to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking commercial vessels flowing through the Strait of Hormuz,” Centcom said in a statement.
The command said shipping through the critical chokepoint was still moving. Since early May, Centcom said its forces have helped secure passage for roughly 900 commercial ships and 450 million barrels of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran, however, struck a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday, prompting the crew to abandon ship as Tehran appeared to intensify efforts to assert control over the waterway, which normally carries about 20% of global oil traffic.
Kuwait said Iran had attacked several of its power generation and water desalination plants on Monday, causing a fire at multiple facilities. The fires have since been extinguished, according to Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy, with repair work ongoing. Kuwait is heavily dependent on desalination plants for drinking water.
Houthi militants in Yemen on Monday declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia effective immediately, a move that could substantially threaten Middle East oil supplies.
The Houthis have repeatedly threatened to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait during the U.S.-Iran war. The strait is a choke point for commercial ship traffic that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and global markets.
The militants, in a statement carried by state news, accused the Saudis of laying an “aggressive siege” against them. Tensions escalated last week after they claimed that Riyadh had bombed Sanaa International Airport.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said that it would respond to the Houthis naval blockade with force, reportedly describing such threats as “a blatant violation of international law.”
10-day ceasefire ‘won’t be an easy task’
Oil prices rose briefly on news of the Houthi statement but have since whipsawed as energy market participants closely monitor the prospect of a diplomatic breakthrough.
International benchmark Brent crude futures with September delivery were last seen trading up 1.1% at $90.20 per barrel, erasing earlier losses. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with August delivery, meanwhile, stood 1.1% higher at $84.13.
Strategists at ING said there’s some hope of de-escalation between the U.S. and Iran given the reports that mediators are proposing a 10-day ceasefire.
A commuter walks past a wall mural along the street in Tehran on July 21, 2026.
Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images
“This won’t be an easy task,” ING’s Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said in a research note published Tuesday. “Large divisions remain between the US and Iran. And President Trump said the US would retaliate following the deaths of several American troops,” they added.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, President Donald Trump said, “Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!” He added that this directive had been passed on to every leader in the military.
Saudi Arabia oil risk
Jorge León, senior vice president and head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy, said the Houthis’ threat puts approximately 2.5 million barrels per day of Saudi oil at risk at a time when traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is at a standstill.
“With the Gulf’s primary maritime outlet largely closed, the market is increasingly dependent on Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline and Red Sea terminals to maintain export flows,” León said Monday in a research note.
Saudi Arabia’s east-west pipeline network, or Petroline, is a roughly 750-mile system that transports crude across Saudi Arabia, connecting Abqaiq on the oil-rich kingdom’s eastern Gulf coast to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea.
“Any disruption at Bab el-Mandeb would therefore threaten not only Saudi shipments but one of the few remaining routes capable of compensating for the severe reduction in Hormuz traffic,” León said.
“If a ceasefire does not materialize and Hormuz remains largely closed while the Houthi threat to Red Sea shipping intensifies, the risk of a significant rebound in oil prices would be substantial,” he added.
— CNBC’s Chloe Taylor and Spencer Kimball both contributed to this report.
