Iran-backed Houthis struck several Saudi cities on Tuesday, wounding 73 people and setting oil sites ablaze as the Middle East war intensified in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. U.S. forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers after Iranian Revolutionary Guard missile attempts against a U.S. Navy warship, and Iran then hit a U.S. base near Al Azraq in Jordan. Jordan said it intercepted 18 of 20 missiles, with no casualties. The fighting also pushed Brent crude to its highest level since July 23.
Jordanian air defenses reportedly intercept missiles launched from Iran, as seen from the Israeli side of the Jordan Valley, Sept. 9. EPA-Yonhap
DUBAI/CAIRO — The Middle East war intensified on Tuesday with Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen launching strikes on several Saudi cities, further embroiling a U.S. ally in the conflict, while U.S. forces hit multiple Iranian oil tankers and Iran targeted a U.S. base in Jordan.
The Houthis attacked four cities in the south of Saudi Arabia, wounding 73 people and setting oil installations ablaze in what appeared to be a major expansion of the six-month-old war.
As global oil markets were pricing in the Saudi attacks, the U.S. military's Central Command said it destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers on Tuesday and posted video of the strikes, which it called a response to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the previous two days. No Americans were harmed, the U.S. said.
