Six people died in the first Red Sea shipping fatalities in over a year. U.S. forces disabled a vessel; Brent hit $89.44. ING sees oil risks skewed higher.
An attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels killed six people aboard a cargo ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, the first reported fatalities from Red Sea shipping attacks in more than a year. The attack landed in the sixth month of the conflict. Within hours, U.S. forces fired missiles at a vessel they said tried to break Washington's naval blockade around Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman.
U.S. Central Command said a Navy helicopter launched two missiles at the Panama-flagged Vela Nova late Tuesday, disabling its steering and propulsion. The crew had ignored warnings while transiting the Gulf of Oman, Centcom said, and the ship was attempting to run past the blockade the U.S. reimposed in mid-April.
No casualties were reported.
Since the blockade took effect, U.S. forces have redirected 55 commercial vessels trying to breach it, disabled three non-compliant ships and boarded two, according to Centcom.
Yemen's transport ministry said four crew members aboard the Tihamah, an Egyptian-owned, Tanzania-flagged vessel, were killed in the Red Sea attack. Three were Pakistani nationals; one was Indonesian. Yemen's coastguard separately reported that two members of the Yemeni government-allied National Resistance Forces were killed in a follow-up strike during a rescue.
The transport ministry said in a statement that it holds "the Houthi terrorist militias fully responsible for the deaths, injuries and damage inflicted on the commercial vessel "Tihamah" as well as for the serious consequences resulting from these attacks," according to a Google translation of Arabic.
A Houthi-aligned media outlet said the group had targeted a ship carrying Saudi military equipment. The Houthis have not addressed the casualty figures officially.
The Houthis had declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea on July 20 after the collapse of a years-long truce in Yemen's civil war. The group described the measure as retaliation for a Saudi 'siege' on Yemen, an allegation Riyadh denied.
U.S.-Iran diplomacy is stalled. Iran's Supreme National Security Council over the weekend laid out demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including an end to the U.S. naval blockade, sanctions relief, American troop withdrawals and war reparations. President Donald Trump has countered by demanding compensation from Iran. The impasse has pushed a return to normal shipping further out of reach; Iran and Oman are nevertheless edging closer to an agreement on a new transit corridor through Hormuz.
Pakistan's defense minister, Khawaja Asif, told reporters that "things are shaping up again in favor of a peace arrangement or a deal," according to Bloomberg. A Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Al Jazeera that talks between Iran and Oman on opening a shipping channel through the strait were at a "critical juncture."
Oil prices climbed again Wednesday. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about 20% of the world's oil trade before the conflict began in late February, has been barely trickling. Brent crude futures for October delivery added 0.6% to $89.44 a barrel, extending a rally of more than 7% this week, according to LSEG data. West Texas Intermediate for September added 0.7% to $83.8.
"Current rhetoric suggests any potential deal is still some way off, meaning risks remain skewed to the upside for oil prices," Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, said.
Drafted by a large language model from the source reporting linked above, then screened by automated publishing checks. It is not read by a journalist before publication. Some articles cite our Alpha Score. Verify prices and figures against the original source. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.