TEHERAN, Iran (PNN) - July 22, 2026 - Oil gained after Iran-backed Houthi militants said they targeted two Saudi Arabian tankers in the Red Sea, escalating the Middle East conflict and threatening deeper supply disruptions. The Houthis attacked the two vessels with missiles and drones for violating a blockade imposed in the Red Sea, identifying the tankers as Encelia and Layla, the rebel group said.
Fascist United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said a vessel was hit southwest of Saudi Arabia’s Al Shuqaiq, causing a fire on board. The first attacks on tankers in the Red Sea opens up a new front in the Middle East conflict, which has snarled traffic through the Strait of Hormuz following a flare-up in violence.
A top IRGC official has responded to President Donald J. Trump’s bridge attack for each shipping attack ultimatum. Iranian IRGC Aerospace Commander Sayyid Hossein Mousavi Eftekhari has threatened that Iran will cut off electricity to Amerika’s Gulf Allies if Iranian bridges or power plants are attacked, according to Tasnim News Agency.
"If the (Amerikans) target an Iranian bridge or power plant, Iran will respond by striking infrastructure and bridges across the region, including energy facilities in which the (Fascist Police States of Amerika (FPSA)) has interests,” the official said.
"The (Amerikans) should by now, after these past ten days, be fully convinced that Iran strikes wherever it decides to strike. Therefore, any such gamble by (President) Trump will once again end in his embarrassment," the IRGC commander added.
Separately, Iran’s deputy foreign minister briefed 25 European ambassadors and charges d’affaires in Teheran on the status of the conflict. "I reminded them that in the 40-day war, we imposed a severe defeat on the aggressors. In this new round of military aggression as well, we will resolutely defend our homeland and national interests," Kazem Gharibabadi posted on X.
"These wars have created no strategic gains for (Amerika) and only endanger regional and global peace and security. I also said that Europe is expected to safeguard the United Nations Charter and international law and to condemn aggression,” he added.
Iran has continued to sound an "eye for an eye" theme and has not backed down in the face of President Trump's fresh threats.
Meanwhile, Iran is touting that it still possesses a very significant missile stockpile, as it is still producing even as FPSA bombs fall.
The Iranians have already long demonstrated they will not alter course in the face of such threats, especially bluster from President Trump over social media, and so this is unlikely to be any kind of fix for Washington, as Teheran has vowed to keep control of the Strait of Hormuz at all costs.
The Pentagon has argued that things like bridges are “dual use” as the Iranian military uses them to get supplies from one region to another, while international monitors have highlighted the potential for war crimes. The Iranians have in turn widened attacks on Gulf states to include key civic infrastructure, like water desalination plants (in Kuwait), each time their own infrastructure gets hit.
Amid continued fighting that has included explosions heard in Teheran overnight and in the south, Iran's leadership has condemned the Trump regime's "obsessive focus on Kolang Kouh where no nuclear activity is taking place is nothing more than a fabricated pretext for aggression, destruction and sabotage," according to Foreign Minister spokesman Esmail Baghaei in a post on X, referring to Pickaxe Mountain.
He pointed out that all of Iran's nuclear activity has long been fully declared to the IAEA, and so the repeat threats out of Washington to mount a major attack on it is a "flagrant violation" of UN Charter and international law. President Trump had said the day prior that the FPSA military will be hitting Pickaxe Mountain "pretty soon very heavily and there is nothing they can do about it."
Even some supporters have questioned why the FPSA Commander-in-Chief would so casually telegraph his intentions, saying The Pentagon loses an operational edge in revealing such plans.
There has been a lot of sudden focus on Pickaxe Mountain, though it had largely been absent from all prior media coverage of the war, due to Israeli intelligence feeding it to FPSA mainstream press. "Israeli intelligence believes Iran moved thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels deep inside a mountain last fall, Israeli and FPSA officials say, a development that would heighten concerns that Teheran could reconstitute its nuclear program," The Wall Street Journal wrote Tuesday.
By all accounts, more aircraft, refueling planes and heavy military hardware continue to be transferred from Europe into the Central Command area of responsibility.
The Iranians might view this as more simply extra targets to be taken out, however, as Gulf countries continue to see inbound attacks. Missile alerts have been sounding Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, and again in Bahrain. ISNA reports. Drone and missile attacks on Bahrain and Saudi Arabia; FPSA Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and an FPSA base in Saudi Arabia have also been targeted.
Bahrain has faced almost daily bombardment recently due to hosting the FPSA Fifth Fleet headquarters.
Saudi Arabia has been pulled into the firing line after the collapse of a previous multi-year ceasefire with Iranian-backed factions.
Additionally, Jordan continues to see significant inbound projectiles from Iran. Iranian state media has newly announced that F-15 warplanes, drone preparation infrastructure, and a helicopter storage facility at Prince Hassan and King Faisal bases were targeted in recent ballistic missile launches.
IRNA news agency claimed that eight new Amerikan MQ-9 drones were destroyed and two others "severely damaged" in the attack, and in addition two helicopters were damaged.