By Nayera Abdallah, Eman Abouhassira and Timour Azhari
DUBAI/RIYADH, July 20 (Reuters) - Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, a move that opens a new front against the United States in its war on Iran and widens the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf.
The announcement came despite signs that Tehran and Washington wanted to resume diplomacy to halt an escalating cycle of attacks that has all but wrecked a fragile interim agreement signed last month. Oil prices briefly rose after the Houthis’ statement but fell back due to traders’ hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough.
Iran had been pressing the Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea if the U.S. continued to attack Iranian power infrastructure. The full closure of the strait would cut global oil supply by 7% as it would leave most Saudi oil exports unable to leave the region. The disruption would add to the massive cut to global oil flows from the war in the Gulf, which has already reduced shipments by 10% of global supply.
In their statement, the Houthis’ armed forces said they were declaring “a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of ‘an eye for an eye’, effective immediately” in response to what they called “an unjust and oppressive siege” imposed on Yemen by the Saudis.
There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia.
DIPLOMATIC PUSH TO RESTORE CEASEFIRE
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that Tehran had received a proposal from mediators for a 10-day ceasefire in an effort to salvage the interim deal, intended to pave the way to a lasting agreement to end the war that began on February 28 with U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said mediators had recently presented proposals to Tehran, signalling that diplomatic contacts remain active.
Neither the ministry nor the official who spoke to Reuters gave any further details on the putative ceasefire discussions.
Separately, two Pakistani government sources said Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, on his second visit to Islamabad in less than a week, had asked Pakistan to resume its mediation role in Iran’s conflict with the United States.
The diplomatic push followed another night of U.S. strikes on Iranian cities and attacks by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on U.S. military assets across the region.
U.S. President Donald Trump, under mounting political pressure at home over rising gasoline prices, defended the latest strikes on Iran as honoring the deaths of up to three American service members in recent Iranian attacks.
IRAN SAYS TANKERS EXPLODED
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said two oil tankers had exploded after attempting to transit the strait via an “unsafe” route. On Sunday, the IRGC had said two ships were involved in an “accident” in the same area. It was unclear whether the two incidents were related.
Reuters could not immediately verify the incident. The IRGC statement gave no details about the vessels or any casualties.
Separately, a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile off Oman’s coast, overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said. The vessel remains adrift but the crew are safe, it said.
U.S. Central Command said its ninth consecutive night of strikes against Iran aimed at “degrading” the country’s ability to attack commercial vessels in the strait’s vital shipping lanes. It gave no further details.
In Iran, explosions were reported in Tabriz, Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Mahshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini. One person was killed and several others wounded southwest of Tabriz, according to state news agency IRNA.
The IRGC said it targeted U.S. aircraft at Jordan’s Aqaba airport with ballistic missiles, as well as military assets at Kuwait’s Al-Adiri camp and Ali Al Salem Air Base, and positions in Syria.
Sirens sounded in Bahrain throughout Monday, while Kuwait’s army said it again intercepted Iranian drones.
DESALINATION PLANT ATTACKED
Kuwait’s government said a desalination plant had been attacked on Sunday for the second day running, causing a fire, in what it called a direct strike on vital civilian infrastructure.
Desalination facilities supply most drinking water in many Gulf states, serving tens of millions of people in one of the world’s driest regions.
Iran, which accused the United States on Saturday of hitting one of its own desalination plants, has repeatedly said it would target such plants in Gulf states in retaliation. The U.S. did not confirm that it had struck an Iranian desalination facility.
U.S., IRAN DON’T RULE OUT RETURN TO DIPLOMACY
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed that the United States would continue to target Iran as long as it attacked global commercial shipping.
“As long as Iran insists on controlling an international waterway, we’re gonna have to respond to that. The United States always remains open to a diplomatic solution,” Rubio said.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry signalled that Tehran also did not rule out a return to diplomacy when asked if the door to talks with the U.S. was now closed.
Confirming that Tehran had received “proposals” from mediators, ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said he could not provide details. “The main point is that in recent days, both the diplomatic apparatus has been active and ideas from some mediators have reached us,” he added.
The conflict has killed thousands of people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon.
(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Eman Abouhassira in Dubai; Additional reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov in London, Enas Alashray and Hatem Maher in Cairo and Idrees Ali and Michael Martina in Washington; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Ros Russell)
