DUBAI: US President ​Donald Trump promised on Thursday “major military punishment” for Iran and its Houthi allies, after the Yemeni fighters struck at least one oil tanker in the Red Sea, extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint.The prospect that disruption could widen to a second sea sent global oil prices surging in one of the steepest rises of the war. Brent crude rose more than 6 percent, breaking through $100 a barrel for the first time since May.Two weeks since the effective collapse of an interim truce meant to end the war, the US military launched another nightly round of air strikes on Iran, prompting Iran to fire at neighboring Arab countries that house US bases.Saudi authorities said the tanker Encelia caught fire after being hit but that all crew members were safely evacuated.The Houthis also claimed to have targeted a second tanker.Trump said he would hold Iran accountable for any further attacks by the fighters.The Houthis, who control northern and western Yemen, said this week they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, which has diverted ‌millions of barrels of oil ‌per day by pipeline to the Red Sea to get around Iran’s blockade of Gulf oil through ​the ‌Strait ⁠of Hormuz.“If ​they ⁠do this again, the US will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a diplomatic gathering in Southeast Asia the price Iran pays “will get higher every night” until Tehran is ready for a peace deal it would live by.“Iran is begging (for a deal) every day. The problem with Iran is every time they make a deal ... they either break it or they want to change it,” he said. “And maybe they’ll change their mind here over the next few days as they continue to suffer great losses.”Houthi attacks could close the strait known as the Bab El-Mandeb or “Gate of Tears” which controls access from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, ‌the second most important route for energy shipments after the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf.