According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre and Iranian news outlets, a vessel 70nm west of Al-Shuqaiq, Saudi Arabia was struck by an unknown projectile and is currently on fire. This comes following the Yemeni Houthis’ pledge to blockade vessels traveling to and from Saudi ports via the strategic maritime choke point of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, after tensions between the nominal holders of power in Sanaa and Riyadh turned kinetic in the past few weeks.

Following reports that the Yemeni Houthis struck a Saudi tanker 70nm west of Al-Shuqaiq, Saudi Arabia, the Houthi military spokesperson has said that they in fact struck two tankers with missiles and drones, LAYLA and ENCELIA, for violating he Houthis’ self-imposed blockade of vessels traveling to and from Saudi ports.

UKMTO report of the incident.

Kuwaiti Air Defenses are currently responding to hostile drone threats, likely from Iran. The Kuwaiti Army advises the public to adhere to safety and security instructions issued by relevant authorities.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it began conducting the 12th consecutive night of strikes at 5:30 p.m. ET.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Alexander “SMO” Davis, 34, a Weapons System Officer onboard the B-52H Stratofortress that crashed shortly after takeoff last month at Edwards Air Force Base in California, killing all eight pilots and crewmembers, was returned to his hometown of Goldsboro, North Carolina on Tuesday. Video captured yesterday by passengers at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, showed an Air Force Honor Guard unloading the remains of Major Davis from a commercial airliner operated by Southwest Airlines, before his family and members of the North Carolina Patriot Guard escorted him the remainder of the way to Seymour Funeral Home in Goldsboro.

U.S. Air Force E-3G “Sentry” Airborne Early Warning & Control Aircraft currently squawking 7700 (General In-Flight Emergency) over Saudi Arabia near the Persian Gulf, seen via FlightRadar24.

Amidst increasing worry from U.S. decision-makers that Russia is supplying Iran with targeting data for U.S. bases, infrastructure, and covert sites across the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on the sidelines of the ongoing ASEAN Ministerial Conference in Manila, Philippines.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has announced the completion of a twelfth consecutive night of strikes against military targets in Iran, to include maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites, and air defense assets across areas of Southern Iran.

U.S. Air Force B-1B “Lancer” Long-Range Heavy Bombers participated in strikes Tuesday against sites operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in the first such strikes against Iran since the start of the now-failed ceasefire, U.S. officials tell Axios.

Initial reports that a Russian Su-57 fifth-generation stealth fighter has crashed this morning near Lutsino in the Moscow Oblast of Central Russia.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has promised to strike both Iran, a dynamic already in effect, and the Yemeni Houthis if the Houthis continue to strike Saudi shipping in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and Red Sea.

The Al Abdali Border Crossing between Iraq and Kuwait was temporarily closed earlier today after a building on the Kuwaiti side of the border was targeted by an Iranian one-way attack drone, likely in response to missile strikes this morning on sites near the border with Iran by the U.S. Army.

Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of 1st Battalion, 57th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 10th Army Air Missile Defense Command, who was killed in an Iranian strike on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, seen during a ceremony at an unspecified date. May she rest in peace.

The New York Times, citing U.S. military officials, reports that nearly a dozen U.S. service members wounded in recent Iranian missile and drone attacks were evacuated to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for treatment.

The report comes a day after the Wall Street Journal revealed that approximately 150 additional medical personnel had been deployed to Germany.

Although the Pentagon says 96% of the roughly 100 U.S. troops injured since early July have returned to duty, the Times reporting aligns with flight activity documented by @TheIntelFrog, which has tracked 10 U.S. Air Force medical evacuation missions since July 1; eight from the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility to Germany and two continuing on to the United States.

Photo: DVIDS

During an interview early Thursday with Axios, President Trump said that he is considering a “massive attack” on Iran, as daily tit-for-tat strikes between Tehran and Washington continue into their second week, with him stating: “I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it.”

President Trump said Israel “would join in two minutes if I ask them to,” but added that “we don't need anybody” to launch a new operation against Iran, suggesting that there would be “consequences” against Israel if they targeted Iran.

According to an exclusive report today from CBS News, citing U.S. officials who spoke on a condition of anonymity, the rate at which the United States is expending some of its most advanced air-defense interceptors and precision-guided weapons in the Middle East is a point of great tension inside the Trump Administration.

Dwindling stockpiles of defensive interceptors and long-range missiles, including stocks of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), have become a pressure point for top military and civilian leaders who are weighing the demands of the war with Iran against maintaining readiness to deter other adversaries, including China.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has announced that the 13th consecutive night of strikes against targets in Iran began at 6:45 p.m. ET.

Video posted online earlier shows an unidentified object, possibly a surveillance drone or other aircraft, in flames over Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of War lowered the total number of American servicemembers officially killed during the Iran War from 18 to 14, removing the four servicemembers killed during the most recent round of hostilities in the Middle East; 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, who were killed last week by an Iranian ballistic missile attack in Jordan, and Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, who died as a result of a controlled demolition of an Iranian one-way attack drone in Iraq. Three military officials told The New York Times that one reason behind the change was that their deaths occurred after President Trump declared a ceasefire with Iran in April.