As US strikes, Iran and Houthis tighten grip on Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb

International benchmark oil prices went above $100 a barrel again as increased fighting has erupted in the region and restrictions on maritime movement in Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb straits.

Fresh fighting in the Middle East means inflation could now trend higher than expected, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said Thursday.

"The risks to the inflation outlook are to the upside," she said at a press conference after the bank announced it was keeping its key deposit rate unchanged. "The energy shock could intensify further, and its effects on other prices and wages could be stronger than currently expected."

US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened Yemen's Houthi rebels with "major military punishment" after they launched missile and drone strikes on oil tankers in the Red Sea.

"The U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis themselves" should the rebels launch further attacks, Trump said on his Truth Social network.

"The Civil Nuclear Deal (There will be no enrichment of material!) being made between the United States Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia, which pertains only to non-military use such as the ones that Iran and UAE (and others) already have, will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords. The United States is not opposed to Civil (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Facilities. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP", Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The Kuwaiti army announced that the Abadali border crossing between Kuwait and Iraq has been hit by a drone, which caused heavy material damage but no casualities. 

Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen must cease all actions that endanger international shipping and the lives of seafarers, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday.

Recent threats by Yemen's Houthis to impose a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia "pose a direct threat to regional stability and constitute a dangerous escalation", Kallas said in a statement.

The Houthis on Thursday said they struck two Saudi oil tankers as part of a blockade on Saudi Arabia, threatening to create a second chokepoint on global oil supplies alongside the Strait of Hormuz.

Kallas said such attacks were "unacceptable" and inflamed the already fragile situation in the region.

"Navigation must be unimpeded, in the Strait of Hormuz as well as in the Red Sea," the EU's top diplomat said.

The EU's ASPIDES naval operation remained committed to protecting freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and surrounding international waters, she added.

Nearly 4,000 miscarriages were recorded in the Gaza Strip during the first half of this year, according to Palestinian health officials, who attribute the sharp increase to the combined effects of Israel's genocidal war, displacement, malnutrition and the collapse of maternal healthcare services.

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The price of main international oil contract, Brent North Sea, soared five percent Thursday after Houthi rebels claimed to have struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.

Brent reached $98.80 a barrel while main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, rallied 3.8 percent to $90.11 a barrel, as the attacks potentially opened a new front in the US-Israeli war on Iran.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says a landmark nuclear cooperation pact with Saudi Arabia would result only in a peaceful, civilian atomic program.

"Suffice it to say that any agreement that we’re going to make with any country in the world on civil nuclear energy is going to be one that will have safeguards in place to ensure that it can’t be turned into a weapons program," Rubio says on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit in Manila.

"Saudi Arabia seeks to have a peaceful, civil nuclear program," he tells reporters, noting a similar deal was in place with the United Arab Emirates.

Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir led hundreds of fundamentalist Israeli Jews into occupied Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Thursday, breaching the site's decades-old status quo.

The visit coincided with Tisha B'Av, the Jewish fast day commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples.

AFP footage showed Ben Gvir and hundreds of fellow worshippers at the Al-Aqsa compound, including Jewish settlers who lined up from the early morning hours to enter the site.

Sirens sounded in Bahrain on Thursday, the interior ministry said.

"The siren has been sounded... Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place," the ministry said in a statement.

Oman said on Thursday it is coordinating with Saudi Arabia, Yemeni parties, and the UN special envoy for Yemen to resume the political track aimed at achieving security and stability in the region, according to a foreign ministry statement.

The ministry stressed the need to avoid further deterioration and any threats that could worsen the situation in the Red Sea and endanger freedom of navigation. 

The Iranian army announced that it would continue its strikes across the region until the US attacks on Iran stopped, state television reported.

"The armed forces' retaliatory attacks will continue as long as the US attacks on the country's infrastructure and coastal areas continue," said army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia according to state TV, adding that the country was ready for "every enemy scenario".

The Jordanian military says four Iranian ballistic missiles and six drones launched from Iran at the kingdom were intercepted earlier today.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said earlier that it targeted a radar for the US THAAD missile defence system, a Patriot system, a C-RAM radar and a helicopter hangar in Jordan, according to a statement aired by state TV.

 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio further said in the press conference in Manlia that there were "lunatics, crazies" in the International Criminal Court, and there was no way any US political or military officials would ever go on trial as the country was not a signatory to its treaty.

"If people want to sign and be a part of that stupid organisation, they can. But we're not going to be a part of it, and they're not going to apply their jurisdiction to Americans," he told reporters.

"I just don't think they're serious about making a deal," the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on the sidelines of the ASEAN conference in Manila.

"The problem with them is you can't make a deal with people unless they’re going to keep it," the US top diplomat said, claiming that Tehran "breaks" or tries to "change the deal".

"So now they’re paying the price for it, and maybe they’ll change," he added.

When asked about Iran's "eye for an eye" policy, Rubio said Trump's approach was "a head for an eye".

Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi has departed from Baghdad and is heading to Iran.

Iraqi government spokesman Haider al-Aboudi said earlier that natural gas cooperation and regional developments will be on the agenda of the talks in Tehran.

The Israeli army carried out a series of attacks on the southern areas of Lebanon since midnight, targeting the area between the towns of Nabatiyeh Al-Fawqa and Kafr Benit, in addition to the Ali Al-Taher area.

The Israeli occupation forces also carried out sweeping fired their machine guns at the towns of Shama and Majdal Zun in the south of the country, and also carried out a bombing in the town of Hadatha.

French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies said Thursday net profit doubled in the second quarter as conflict in the Middle East pushed up hydrocarbon prices.

TotalEnergies said in a statement that net profit amounted to $5.4 billion in the period from April to June, up from $2.7 billion in the same period a year earlier.

"In a high-price environment related to the conflict in the Middle East, TotalEnergies is capitalising on its integrated model and diversification," said chief executive Patrick Pouyanne.

The company had already reported a very strong rise in net profit in the first three months of the year, also driven by soaring oil and gas prices as well as its trading activities.

The group stated that its oil and gas production benefited from organic growth of more than four percent year-on-year, linked to the ramp-up of projects launched over the past year in Brazil, the United States and Libya.

These "partially offset" the impact of production losses in the Middle East, the group said.

On Tuesday, the US Army used a long-range B-1 bomber to carry out strikes targeting sites belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, in the first use of this type of bomber since the resumption of the confrontation with Iran 12 days ago, according to Axios, citing sources.

The sources added that the bomber was launched from an air base in the United Kingdom, and was monitored through aircraft tracking sites, while the US Central Command (CENTCOM) did not indicate its use in its statement regarding Tuesday’s strikes.

It is not yet clear whether the bomber targeted specific locations or achieved results different from the US strikes carried out during the past days.

British no-frills airline EasyJet said Thursday that its profit tumbled in the third quarter as the Middle East war sent jet fuel prices surging.

Profit before tax fell 70 percent to £85 million ($114 million) in the three months to the end of June, compared to one year earlier, EasyJet said in a statement.

A vessel belonging to a Saudi company was hit while transiting the Red Sea, Saudi state media reported Thursday, citing an official source, after Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed it struck tankers in the waterway.

The source, quoted by state-run Saudi Press Agency, said "the vessel ENCELIA, belonging to a Saudi company, was targeted while sailing in the Red Sea, resulting in a fire at the bow of the ship," but that all crew members were safe.

The IRGC announced on Thursday that they attacked and destroyed several American military assets in Jordan.

The targets included a radar for the US THAAD missile defence system, a Patriot system, a C-RAM radar and a helicopter hangar, according to a statement aired by state TV.

Earlier, Iran said it had "attacked and destroyed a large warehouse of military equipment, a Patriot missile defence system, and a hangar of American MQ9 drones" at Ali al-Salem airbase, and assets at the Al-Adiri barracks.

With the ongoing conflict, oil prices are surging.

Brent crude futures reached $96 a barrel, the highest mark since early June.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude went up by $1.44, reaching $88.27.