New attacks on shipping as Iran war talks hit fresh impasse

The United States and Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis reported separate shipping attacks on Tuesday as hopes of ending the Iran war faded. Iran said the Strait of Hormuz would stay closed unless Washington meets its conditions. The attacks unfolded in the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea, both critical routes for global oil supplies.

Why are ships being attacked in the Gulf and Red Sea?

Yemen's Houthis, backed by Iran, said they struck a Saudi ship carrying military equipment in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, part of a naval blockade the group declared on Saudi Arabia last month. Separately, a US Navy helicopter disabled a Panama-flagged cargo ship that ignored warnings against violating a US blockade on Iranian ports.

Oil prices climbed and global shares fell as investors weighed the renewed uncertainty. Brent crude futures rose 1.4% to settle at $88.91 a barrel, while US crude gained 1.3% to $83.20. Both Gulf chokepoints handle a large share of the world's oil and gas shipments.

What happened in the Red Sea attack?

Four crew members died in a suspected Houthi attack on a small cargo vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, Yemen's Transport Ministry said. Two Yemeni rescuers from an anti-Houthi military group were also killed, according to Yemen's Coast Guard. The deaths aboard the Egyptian-owned Tihamah would mark the first shipping fatalities linked to the Houthis since the Iran war began.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency said the group targeted an unnamed Saudi vessel carrying military equipment in the same strait. It did not identify the ship, and Saudi Arabia has not responded to the report.

What happened to the cargo ship near Pakistan?

The US military said a Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles to disable the steering gear of a Panama-flagged cargo ship.

US Central Command said the vessel ignored repeated warnings to stop violating a US-imposed naval blockade on Iranian ports. Maritime sources told Reuters the ship was struck off Pakistan while sailing toward the Gulf of Oman.

Why is Iran keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed?

Mohsen Rezaei, Iran's top security official, said on Tuesday the Strait of Hormuz will stay shut until the United States accepts Iran's conditions. Those conditions include releasing Iran's frozen assets and ending conflicts across the region, including in Lebanon and Gaza. Rezaei was appointed Sunday as second-in-command of the body that coordinates Iran's security and foreign policy.

"As long as America does not change its behavior and does not accept Iran's conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened," Rezaei said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. The comments were the clearest signal yet that the waterway, which handled a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flow before the war, will not reopen soon. Washington has not responded to Iran's latest remarks.

What has Trump said about ending the Iran war?

President Trump demanded on Monday that Iran pay compensation for people killed in 50 years of wars, attacks and protests. He has alternated throughout the conflict between threats of escalation and claims that a peace deal is close.

In an interview released late Monday, Trump said the standoff could drag on, suggesting he might "bop along" and let Tehran fail economically, or hit the country "really, really hard." "I'm sort of negotiating," he told Real America's Voice. "They're very devious negotiators."

Speaking to reporters after a visit to Ohio on Tuesday, Trump said "Iran is going fine, going just absolutely fine," adding, "We totally control the Strait of Hormuz. Nobody else, only us." He said Iran remains "the bully of the Middle East" but suggested that could soon change, adding that if Iran acted further, "they get blown away."

Did Trump address the Turkey flight incident?

Asked about switching planes in Turkey last month over concerns about a potential Iranian assassination threat, Trump suggested the alternative aircraft may have faced greater risk. "That would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for," he told reporters, after The Washington Post reported he had secretly taken a military flight instead of Air Force One. The operation involved moving him between aircraft in a catering truck. "Any consequential president has a lot of threats," Trump added. "I don't worry about anything."

How has the Iran war escalated so far?

Thousands of people have been killed since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28. Iran has struck US assets and infrastructure in Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Mohammad Reza Naqdi, an adviser to the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said on Iranian state television Tuesday that the corps is developing the ability to strike "on enemy soil." "We need to be able to move the operations to the enemy's soil, whenever this is needed and ordered," he said, calling it central to the corps' "offensive doctrine."