US expands Iran attacks as Trump warns Tehran and Houthis over Red Sea strikes

Smoke and flames rise after an explosion in Bandar Abbas in Iran’s Hormozgan province before dawn on Friday. Photograph: Social Media/Reuters View image in fullscreen Smoke and flames rise after an explosion in Bandar Abbas in Iran’s Hormozgan province before dawn on Friday. Photograph: Social Media/Reuters US expands Iran attacks as Trump warns Tehran and Houthis over Red Sea strikes No end to fighting in sight as Revolutionary Guards launch drones at targets in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait The US struck targets across Iran on Friday, reaching as far as the Caspian Sea, as Donald Trump threatened “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen for extending the war to a second major shipping ⁠chokepoint at the entrance to the Red Sea. As Iran retaliated with missile and drone fire against US bases and allies across the region, the New York Times reported that Tehran had rejected a US ceasefire proposal delivered by the Iraq prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi. This despite the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, claiming a day earlier that Iran was begging for a ceasefire. Iraq later disputed the report. Iran’s much improved missile systems pose a real threat to the US Read more The strikes came as Trump warned China and Russia on Friday against selling weapons to Iran , saying he believed assurances from Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin that they were not yet doing so. Iran said it was in consultations with both countries. “Therefore, two major Countries that people speak of often in terms of Iran are, in my opinion, not participating,” the US president wrote on his Truth Social network. “If they did, it would be very bad for them – Certainly not in their best interests.” Iran’s military said it had launched drone strikes on Friday morning against US military targets in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait as it appeared there was no end in sight to the fighting. It told civilians across the region to stay 500 metres/yards away from locations where US troops were present. The Houthis , who control northern and western Yemen, continued to claim a naval blockade on Saudi Arabian ports and ships using the Bab el Mandeb strait at the entrance to the Red Sea. View image in fullscreen Houthi fighters take par in a pro-Iran rally in Sana’a, Yemen, in April. Photograph: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters They insisted on Friday that only Saudi-linked trade was under blockade as ships in the Red Sea broadcast messages to the group identifying ownership, flag and crew in the hope of securing a safe passage. The Houthis struck two Saudi tankers on Thursday in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, pushing oil prices up 7% to more than $100 per ​barrel for the first time since May. The attacks forced several other tankers to turn around and head north through the Suez canal, a much longer and more expensive route to reach Asia by sailing around ‌Africa. Shipping insurance costs through the southern Red Sea doubled for some companies on Thursday, sources said. Still, half of the 1