Trump Threatens Iranian Infrastructure After Houthis Block Red Sea Artery

DUBAI/MANILA, July 22 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump vowed on Wednesday to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant every time Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, raising the stakes after Iranian-allied Houthis in Yemen threatened a second vital energy route.

Seven tankers have changed course in the Red Sea to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb strait since the Houthis’ threat on Tuesday to block Saudi oil exports, highlighting a new risk to global oil supplies from the intensifying conflict.

In response to Trump’s threat to Iran’s infrastructure, an Iranian military source cited by Tasnim news agency said Tehran would retaliate against infrastructure in the region.

Iran’s near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf has stoked inflation around the world, and the new risk to shipping from the Houthis, who control areas near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, pushed oil prices to a near six-week high.

Brent crude futures hit more than $95 a barrel before easing back to nearer $93 by midmorning U.S. time.

U.S. gasoline prices, which have weighed on Trump’s poll ratings ahead of midterm elections in November, have climbed back over $4 a gallon.

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Millions of barrels of Saudi oil per day have been heading to the kingdom’s Red Sea port of Yanbu to avoid the Strait of Hormuz. If shipments cannot pass through the Red Sea‘s southern Bab el-Mandeb Strait, they have only the northern route out via the Suez Canal, which adds weeks to the journey.

Iranian Official Claims Trump Is in a ‘Quagmire’

U.S. strikes have widened from the south to western and central areas of Iran in recent days and Iran has pounded vital water desalination and energy plants in Kuwait this week and targeted U.S. military assets there, in Bahrain and in Jordan.

Iran strengthened its military in anticipation that its adversaries would break agreements, Army Commander-in-Chief Major General Amir Hatami said. Iranian media also cited parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee spokesperson Hasan Qashqavi as saying Trump was in a “quagmire”.

An Iranian health ministry official said 53 civilians had been killed and 592 wounded since late last month; the U.S. military has said it never targets civilians.

The war has led to the deaths of 18 U.S. service members and injured more than 450 troops. Trump attended a ceremony on Wednesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for four U.S. service members killed in Iranian attacks on military bases over the last few days—three in Jordan and one in Iraq.

“For me it’s one of the hardest things to do as a president. But it has to be done,” he said before leaving for the ceremony.

Analyst: Iran Hoping to Strengthen Its Hand

Mediators have presented Iran with a proposal for a 10-day ceasefire, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday. Analysts said the new threat to shipping from the Houthis on Tuesday was a tactical move by Iran.

“Tehran is trying to create leverage for a negotiation,” said Mahmoud Shehrah, associate fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme at Britain’s Chatham House think tank.

The proposal aims to salvage an interim ceasefire agreement signed by Washington and Tehran in June. Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan this week and asked it to continue its mediating efforts. Pakistan said on Wednesday that it would, but that the safety of shipping must be assured.

Iran has insisted on maintaining control over the Strait of Hormuz that it established during this war, which was launched by the U.S. and Israel on February 28.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said allowing Iran to have such control would set a dangerous precedent for the world, including Southeast Asia, where many countries have territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.

Iran was not serious about talks, he said.

“If they’re serious, we’re serious. If they’re not, then we will do what’s necessary to protect our interests, and also the interests of our allies,” he told reporters at a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Manila.

Explosions Heard Over Tehran

In the 11th straight night of U.S. bombing of Iran, Tehran residents reported explosions in the early hours of Wednesday from air defenses activated over the capital, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said.

Three locations in Iran’s Bushehr province, home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant, were hit, an official told Iran’s state news agency IRNA, including an electricity post close to the plant. Iranian media also said the U.S. targeted locations in Kabudarahang county in the central Hamadan province, giving no details.

Iran’s army said it struck accommodation and storage facilities at the U.S. Al Azraq Air Base in Jordan, targeted warehouses and aircraft maintenance hangars at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, and also targeted Camp Doha in Kuwait.

Reuters was unable to immediately verify details of the attacks. Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain all said they had intercepted Iranian attacks.

(Additional reporting by Ahmed Elimam, Rick Noak, Susan Heavey and Reuters bureaux; Writing by Stephen Coates and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Andrei Khalip and Gareth Jones)