Britain has withdrawn remaining diplomatic staff from Iran as the conflict with the US continued to escalate with a twelfth night of airstrikes and attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea.
A statement on the Foreign Office (FCDO) website said: ‘Due to the security situation, UK staff have been temporarily withdrawn from Iran. Our embassy continues to operate remotely.’
The FCDO advises against all travel to Iran, saying British and dual British-Iranian residents face ‘significant risk of arrest, questioning or detention’.
A similar move was made in February ahead of the start of US and Israeli combat operations.
US Central Command said late on Wednesday that the 12th night of attacks was designed to ‘further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters’.
Announcing the end of the latest wave of strikes on Thursday morning, they said US forces struck military targets including maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites and air defence assets.
‘The strikes further degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels,’ they said on X.
Scattered debris and smoke, at an unknown location, during what CENTCOM says are strikes on Iran
Heavy machinery is targeted at an unknown location, during what CENTCOM says are strikes on Iran
Missiles struck near the cities of Ahvaz, Ramshir and Andimeshk in western Iran, according to Iranian state media, who said two people were killed in the town of Shalamcheh on the Iraqi border.
Kuwait’s army said on X that the country’s air defences were ‘confronting attacks by hostile drones, following the sinful Iranian aggression’.
US President Donald Trump had warned earlier that one bridge or power plant would be destroyed for each ship shot at by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.
‘From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT,’ Trump wrote on social media.
Foreign minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi also said an ‘eye for an eye’ approach would be adopted by Iran.
‘Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response,’ he posted on X on Wednesday.
Iran’s army and its Revolutionary Guards on Thursday said they attacked several US bases in Kuwait following attacks by American forces on Iran.
They also attacked and destroyed several American military assets in Jordan.
The targets included a radar for the US THAAD missile defence system, a Patriot system, a C-RAM radar and a helicopter hangar, according to a statement from the Guards aired by state TV.
Meanwhile, a Saudi vessel was attacked in the Red Sea as Tehran-backed Houthi rebels claimed to strike tankers in the waterway, Riyadh’s state media said Thursday.
The Houthis had threatened to blockade Saudi ports on the Red Sea – a key route for oil shipments – while the five-month war had already led to the effective closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Washington and Tehran have been battling over key crude supply route Hormuz, which led to the collapse of a preliminary deal aimed at ending the war that has sent global oil prices climbing.
The Houthis said they had carried out missile and drone strikes on two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, the Encelia and the Layla, after threatening to blockade Saudi ports.
British naval security monitor UKMTO said the master of a tanker reported being hit by an unknown projectile about 70 nautical miles southwest of Al Shuqaiq, causing a fire that the crew was fighting.
Saudi Arabia confirmed the Encelia had been struck, without commenting on the other tanker.
It remains unclear how fully the Houthis could enforce a blockade, but the threat could compound the shock of the Hormuz closure, endangering Riyadh’s ability to bypass the strait for some oil exports.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Thursday they stopped three oil tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz, as the United States and Iran vie for control over the vital waterway.
In recent weeks, Iran has hit tankers using a route hugging the Omani coast to traverse the strait, in a bid to strongarm vessels into using its own waters and pay for safe passage.
‘Three oil tankers, provoked and tempted by the child-killing American army, were trying to pass through the mine-laid route south of the Strait of Hormuz, but after one of them exploded and caught fire, the other two quickly turned around and turned back,’ the Guards said in a statement quoted by Iranian state media.
‘The Strait of Hormuz is under our control… and any ship that is deceived by the US and intends to pass without coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran will suffer the same fate,’ the statement added.
The statement did not say when the incident happened.
Houthi supporters hold up their weapons during a protest against Saudi Arabia
Donald Trump will allow Saudi Arabia to develop its own civilian nuclear program under a sweeping new deal as the Iran war spirals into the Red Sea
Fighting reignited two weeks ago after ceasefire talks between the US and Iran broke down
The 11th night of strikes on Iran into Wednesday saw air defences opening fire over the capital Tehran.
Iran launched a missile attack on a Jordanian city while alerts were sounded in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Iran has responded to US attacks by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants which provide drinking water in neighbouring Gulf countries.
The Guards claimed attacks on Ali Al Salem base, Camp Udairi and a telecommunications tower, while the army said it targeted Camp Doha, Ali Al Salem base and Camp Arifjan, according to separate statements by the forces carried by state TV.
International law generally prohibits such attacks unless the infrastructure is being used for military purposes.
It comes as the US on Wednesday announced a landmark deal with Saudi Arabia that would establish a civilian nuclear program in the Gulf country, with Washington insisting the agreement includes nonproliferation safeguards.
The move comes as Trump fights a war with Iran that began in large part over concerns with Tehran’s nuclear program – an issue that remains a key point of contention during now-stalled peace talks.
Two agreements – one on ‘peaceful nuclear cooperation’ and another on ‘bilateral safeguards’ – were signed by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright and his Saudi counterpart Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the US Energy Department said.
The text of the deals was not immediately made public.
‘Together, these two agreements lay the legal foundation for a decades-long, multi-billion-dollar partnership that advances several priority economic and strategic objectives, including nuclear nonproliferation,’ the department said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has previously vowed that his country would ‘without a doubt’ build nuclear weapons if Iran developed them.
The kingdom has faced mounting drone and missile attacks by Iran on its military and civilian infrastructure since Tehran’s war with the US resumed earlier this month.
Saudi officials insist the program is strictly civilian and will allow the kingdom to power its homes with nuclear energy, freeing up more crude for export.
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