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• Trump vows to make Iran ‘pay many times over’ for American troop deaths
• Centcom continues attacks for ninth straight day; one killed in Tabriz, Darkhovin nuclear plant hit
• Tehran claims retaliatory strikes on US aircraft in Jordan, targets in Kuwait and Bahrain
• Baqaei says mediators still ‘passing messages’
TEHRAN / SANAA: Yemen’s Houthi rebels entered the fray on Monday, announcing an immediate maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia, opening a new front as the United States and Iran plunge into what Tehran itself now describes as ‘full-scale war’.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree declared the embargo effective immediately, framing it as retaliation on an “eye-for-an-eye” basis against Saudi Arabia, according to AFP.
The naval blockade, if enforced, could further strain Saudi Arabia’s economy by cutting off access to its Red Sea ports, which have been vital for oil exports as renewed fighting limits passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
The blockade is also expected to hurt global markets that rely on Saudi Arabia — the world’s leading crude exporter, producing over 10 million barrels per day — for their energy imports.
The announcement follows an exchange of fire between the Houthis and Saudi forces last week, the first direct clash between the two sides in years.
The Houthis have previously tried to cut off shipping through the Red Sea, leveraging the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a chokepoint at its southern tip which vessels must navigate when travelling to or from the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.
They previously launched drone and missile attacks on ships transiting the strategic waterway beginning in November 2023 during the Gaza war, forcing vessels to take lengthy detours around Africa instead of travelling directly from Europe.
Yemen shares a border and coastline with Saudi Arabia, whose Red Sea port of Yanbu has been crucial for exporting oil, bypassing Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz during its war with the US.
Saudi’s foreign ministry condemned the Houthi maritime blockade and a reasserted Riyadh’s backing for Yemen’s Aden-based government.
In a statement, the UN secretary-general’s spokesperson said that the blockade risks an “even wider” regional conflict.
“We’ve seen the reports and are very much concerned by the renewed Houthi threats against Saudi Arabia, against freedom of navigation, which leads to the risk of an even wider regional escalation,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the United Nations.
‘Full-scale war’
President Masoud Pezeshkian, meanwhile, acknowledged that Iran is now locked in what he called a full-scale war with the US, saying the country must accept the consequences of its resistance, according to a statement.
His counterpart, President Donald Trump, struck a more hostile tone, saying the US would make Iran pay “many times over” for every US soldier it killed after Washington announced three new military fatalities and one service member missing in action over the weekend.
“Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!” Trump posted on his platform, Truth Social. “This directive has been passed on to Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Daniel Caine, and every Leader in the Military. “
The remarks after US Central Command (Centcom) said it had completed a ninth straight night of strikes on Iran, targeting military command centres, air defenses, coastal surveillance sites, naval assets, missile and drone launch positions, and communications infrastructure. Centcom said the goal was to curb Iran’s capacity to threaten commercial shipping and civilian mariners passing through the Strait of Hormuz, and described its forces as remaining highly vigilant and ready.
Meanwhile, at least one person was killed and several others wounded in a US strike on a military site in Tabriz, in Iran’s northwest, according to a provincial crisis-management official cited by state news agency IRNA.
Despite the rhetoric, however, Iran’s foreign ministry says diplomatic channels remain open: spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters in Tehran that mediators have continued passing messages between the two sides even as US strikes continue. However, he warned warned against any use of the Strait of Hormuz to threaten its security, saying the country is determined to take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard the waterway and its national interests.
Jordan’s army said that air defences had downed three Iranian missiles targeting the kingdom, with no injuries or damage reported.
Nuclear site struck
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said the US had also struck the site of the Darkhovin nuclear power plant, still under construction in the country’s southwest, and Iran has called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to condemn the strike as a violation of international law.
The IAEA said it was looking into the reports, noting the facility remains in early-stage construction and held no nuclear material when last inspected, though the agency’s director, Rafael Grossi, renewed his call for military restraint near all nuclear-related sites.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it fired ballistic missiles at US C-17 transport planes and P-8 aircraft stationed at Aqaba airport in Jordan, claiming several aircraft were badly damaged, and also asserted that roughly twenty hangars housing US forces at the Muwaffaq Salti/Al-Azraq air base were destroyed, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
The conflict has spread further across the Gulf. Kuwait’s military said its air defenses were actively intercepting missile and drone attacks it blamed on Iran, with explosions heard in Kuwait City. Bahrain reported that Iranian drones had targeted its air navigation systems, though the civil aviation authority said flights and air traffic were continuing normally despite the attack.
Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2026
