Oil prices continued to rise on Thursday as fighting between the United States and Iran and its allies escalated, adding to fears about shipping energy out of the Middle East.
The Houthis, an Iran-backed militia in Yemen, claimed to have attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea after threatening a blockade in the region. And Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said one of three oil tankers trying to pass through a “mined route” south of the Strait of Hormuz caught fire after an explosion, prompting the other two ships to turn back, according to a statement carried by Iran’s official state news agency.
The United States said it had completed its 12th night of consecutive strikes intended to “degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels.”
Jenny Gross, Shirin Hakim and Pranav Baskar contributed reporting.
