Oil prices continued to rise Thursday as fighting between the United States and Iran and its allies intensified, heightening fears about shipping energy out of the Middle East.
The Houthis, an Iran-backed militia in Yemen, claimed to have attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea after threatening to impose a blockade on the region. And Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said one of three oil tankers attempting to cross a “mined route” south of the Strait of Hormuz caught fire after an explosion, prompting the other two vessels to turn back, according to a statement carried by Iran’s official news agency.
The United States said it carried out its 12th straight night of strikes aimed at “degrading Iran’s ability to threaten civilian sailors and commercial vessels.”
Jenny Gross, Shirin Hakim And Pranav Baskar reports contributed.
