Iran targeted US radar and air defence installations in the Gulf on Tuesday, warning Washington of 'more decisive and powerful' attacks to come as the conflict threatened to widen with a blockade of Saudi ports by Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Revolutionary Guards said they had attacked and stopped two 'non-compliant oil tankers' attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, part of an effort to tighten its grip on the vital waterway while the war reignited.
Following the deaths of at least three US soldiers in the past several days, the United States launched a new round of attacks against Iran late Monday, which it said were 'designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping' in the strait. Hours later, the Iranian army said it had targeted US assets in Kuwait and Bahrain, including air defence systems, radar installations and administrative buildings.
'With this radar sweep, the enemy should prepare for even more decisive and powerful waves of drone and missile attacks,' the Guards said in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA. US President Donald Trump warned Monday that Iran would pay'many times over' for every American soldier killed, while Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the conflict had become 'a full-scale war'.
Nearly 100 US servicemembers have been wounded since July 7, the Pentagon said on Monday, most with minor concussions. Tehran's Yemeni allies, the Houthi rebels, meanwhile threatened a major broadening of the war, announcing they would blockade Saudi ports. Such a move by the Houthis would put at risk Riyadh's ability to bypass the flashpoint Strait of Hormuz for some of its oil exports and have major repercussions on the global economy.
Saudi Arabia and the Houthis traded fire last week for the first time in years, threatening a 2022 truce, but the rebels have largely remained on the sidelines since Israel and the United States attacked Iran in late February. Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the threat from what it called the 'terrorist Houthi militia' and said it 'continues to support the brotherly Yemeni people and their legitimate government'.
