U.S. military says it fired on merchant vessel that tried to breach blockade of Iranian ports

Warring sides showing no signs of backing away from their conflict

The U.S. military said Friday that it fired on another merchant vessel that was trying to breach its blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran targeted American strongholds around the Persian Gulf.

The U.S. and Iran showed no sign of backing away from their conflict after a 13th straight night of strikes. With fighting flaring again and diplomacy uncertain, both sides made moves suggesting an escalation was possible.

U.S. embassies in the Middle East began alerting Americans in the region that options for leaving could become more limited, while Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps advised residents of neighbouring countries to stay away from bases with U.S. troops.

Saudi Arabia struck the port city of Hodeida in Yemen in response to Iranian-backed Houthi rebel attacks on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said early Saturday. The Houthis said they would escalate after tensions have been brewing for weeks, breaking a years-long calm.

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American forces disabled the M/T Lavine in the Gulf of Oman after the ship attempted to run the blockade at least four times, Capt. Tim Hawkins, U.S. Central Command spokesperson, told The Associated Press.

Hawkins stressed that the ship's crew was warned and didn't comply with commands. The military then fired into its engine room. It's the second commercial ship to be disabled since the military reimposed its blockade.

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Earlier on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump met with top national security aides to discuss the situation with Iran and whether the administration should maintain the current course or escalate military attacks, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. It was not immediately clear if any decisions were made at the meeting, which was earlier reported by The New York Times. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

In an event in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump described current negotiations with Iran as "by far the most serious that we've seen," even as the U.S. has launched daily strikes. Trump added that he's "not in a hurry" to end the war.

Vowing that Iran "will not bow to U.S." bullying, Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi noted ongoing discussions with two global powers often at odds with Americans — China and Russia — and warned in an interview with the semi-official news outlet Tasnim that the Islamic Republic is "neither intimidated by threats nor will we yield to pressure."

At the centre of the fight is the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial passage for world energy supplies that has been effectively shut down by Iranian attacks, sending fuel prices soaring and causing widespread economic turmoil.

5 explosive-laden drones downed

In the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, which is home to a contingent of American military advisers, security officials said Friday that U.S.-led forces had shot down five explosive-laden drones.

Repeated blasts echoed in Irbil, the capital of Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region, and plumes of black smoke were seen near its airport, where U.S. forces are based. U.S. military officials did not respond to a request for comment on the apparent attacks.

Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the U.S. base in Udairi, Kuwait, destroying three ammunition and storage sheds. It also claimed to have struck a watchtower for the U.S. navy's Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.

Both Bahrain and Jordan said they had intercepted aerial attacks by Iran on Friday.

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Naval base hit in northern Iran, reports say

As a barrage of assaults was aimed at bases of the United States and its allies, the U.S. hit a Revolutionary Guard naval base in northern Iran, according to the semi-official news outlets Fars and ISNA.

Blasts from U.S. bombardment were also reported on Iran's Qeshm Island, a base for naval assets, including drone boats that Iran can use to attack vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as in Isfahan province, home to a major Iranian airbase and one of Iran's nuclear sites.

Additional strikes reportedly hit Iran's southwest Khuzestan province and southern Fars province.

U.S. Central Command said the latest barrage was designed to "further degrade Iran's ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters," as the U.S. pushes to regain control over the strait, through which one-fifth of the world's oil and gas transited in peacetime.

A diplomatic delegation from Oman, which has been involved in mediation efforts between the U.S. and Iran, was in Tehran on Friday to discuss managing shipping traffic in the strait, according to Iran's state news agency.

Iran's ability to effectively close the strait — and cause economic chaos far beyond the Middle East — gives it tremendous leverage in negotiations. Its Houthi allies increased that leverage when they targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on Thursday, increasing the risks of shipping through another vital route for Middle Eastern oil.

The attacks made good on the Houthis' threat to close the Bab el-Mandeb strait to Saudi-linked shipping.

An official at the Transport General Authority also said a Saudi vessel was targeted on Friday while sailing in the Red Sea, resulting in minor damage to its hull, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

Houthi-run Al Masirah television said early Saturday that Saudi strikes hit facilities belonging to the state telecommunications corporation and also targeted Kamaran island, off Yemen's western coast. The broadcaster said one employee was injured and a woman was also wounded in Kamaran Island.

Saudi Arabia said it would do everything necessary to protect its ships and warned the Houthis that if they continued "hostile acts" then there would be "no hesitation in responding."

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Trump also has threatened "major military punishment" against the Houthis if their attacks on ships continue.

The strait, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. About 12 per cent of the world's trade, including one-quarter of global container traffic, passes through it.

The passage has become more crucial for Saudi Arabia, which has been forced to divert millions of barrels of oil a day to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, dipped slightly Friday to about $96 US per barrel, but it is still up substantially from before the start of the war, when it was trading at about $72 US a barrel. Motorists in the U.S. saw gas prices tick up to an average of $4.11 US a gallon, AAA said.

Beyond the economic impact, the human toll was also apparent, with the Iranian Health Ministry reporting that 3,434 people have been killed since the war began on Feb. 28, when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.

In other developments, the International Maritime Organization said at least 6,000 mariners were stranded on about 400 vessels around the Strait of Hormuz. United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk said some seafarers have been abandoned by their ships' owners, leaving them to "fend for themselves without food, water, fuel, medical care, electricity or means to communicate with their families."

There have been no public signs of progress in any negotiation efforts.