The U.S.military launched more airstrikes on Iran early Wednesday as Iran hit back against U.S.
military targets in the Gulf and Jordan.The attacks overshadowed diplomatic efforts in Pakistan, one of the conflict's mediators, where Iranian Interior Minister Eskander Momeni visited for talks potentially aimed at reviving a collapsed ceasefire between the United States and Iran.U.S.Central Command said it targeted Iranian military operations centers, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities, and military logistics infrastructure in its 11th consecutive night of attacks.
It said the attacks were aimed at degrading Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz – a vital shipping channel.Iranian state media reported explosions in seven Iranian provinces and said attacks included a strike on an electrical installation close to a nuclear power plant in Bushehr province.Oil prices rose again Wednesday in the opening of Asian markets, topping more than $92 per barrel for benchmark crude after Iran attacked a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.The British military maritime operations center said a tanker was attacked Tuesday in the disputed area.The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow channel in Iranian and Omani territorial waters but open under international law to freedom of navigation.
It has been effectively closed by Iran since the start of the war.Contributing to market nervousness over global oil and gas supplies, Yemen's Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, declared that Bab el-Mandab, a Red Sea waterway crucial to Saudi Arabia's exports, would be off limits to that country.The group also warned international shipping companies to avoid this waterway.
It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, and to the Suez canal and the Mediterranean Sea.The Houthis' Ansar Allah (Partisans of God) military and political movement controls the north and center of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.An internationally recognized Yemeni government, supp...