US launches 13th consecutive night of strikes against Iran amid regional tensions.

President Donald Trump warned that he might launch his largest strikes yet against Iran, and the US military followed through with bombing for the 13th night in a row. This escalation comes right after Iran launched fresh waves of attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan. The Central Command based in the Middle East confirmed the air strikes began at 6:45 pm Eastern time, or 22:45 GMT, on Thursday.

The stated goal was to hold Tehran accountable and reduce dangers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to commercial shipping lanes. Al Jazeera's Tohid Asadi reported from Tehran that explosions rocked Qeshm Island, while blasts were also heard in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan province. Iran's Mehr news agency noted missile strikes hit Andimeshk and Omidiyeh within Khuzestan as well. Two people suffered injuries when US attacks struck a residential neighborhood in Bandar Abbas, according to Fars news agency.

Trump stepped up his rhetoric earlier this week after Tehran targeted US allies across the Gulf, including hitting a telecommunications tower in Kuwait. Speaking with Axios, he said he was close to making a decision on a massive attack that would be bigger than ever before. He told reporters they were all set for it. This new threat raises the stakes again in a weeks-long military confrontation where the US has already hit bridges and tunnels for 12 straight nights, reports from Iranian media indicate.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi issued a stark warning on Wednesday that Tehran would respond with an eye for an eye against any future attacks on its infrastructure. Following another night of US strikes on Wednesday, Iran fired missiles and drones at Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait on Thursday. The IRGC said their attacks in Jordan and Kuwait hit US military assets. They also admitted to striking the telecommunications tower in Kuwait as retaliation for similar hits on Iranian towers. In a message to the people of Kuwait, the IRGC insisted that the United States breached Gulf state sovereignty, not Iran. Later that day, Kuwait reported hostile drones attacking its Abdali border crossing with Iraq.

Mohammad Akraminia, spokesperson for the Iranian army, stated that retaliatory attacks would continue as long as US strikes persist on their infrastructure and coastal areas. The spiraling conflict has nearly destroyed an interim peace deal signed just last month by the US and Iran. Fears of a worsening energy crisis have spread through the Gulf region as these events unfold.

Meanwhile, Yemen's Houthi group widened the fight further on Thursday by firing at two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea. This move drew broad international condemnation and caused oil prices to surge past $100 for the first time since May. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a Security Council meeting that the situation is getting out of control and teetering on the edge of the unimaginable. He noted that one crisis feeds another. Shipping insurance rates are rising as Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb face shutdown risks, adding to the chaos.

One escalation triggers the next. The Houthis have declared a blockade of Saudi Arabian ports. This move destabilizes a second key global shipping route: the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively shut since the US and Israel launched the war on Iran in late February. Reporting from Sanaa, Yemen, Al Jazeera's Yousef Mawry cited Houthi sources as saying that facilities of Saudi Arabia's national oil company Aramco could become a future target. This threat exists if Riyadh does not lift its own blockade on Houthi-controlled ports. The international oil benchmark Brent crude surged past $100 a barrel on Thursday for the first time in May. Analysts said this price hike could have an even greater impact on the global economy. Much of the world's spare production capacity has already been used, while strategic and commercial oil inventories are lower than when the war began. This leaves the market with fewer buffers against a prolonged supply disruption. Janiv Shah is vice president of the Rystad Energy consultancy.