Extract from ABC News
Fuel tankers erupt in flames after being attacked in the Gulf.
In short:
Two tankers were set ablaze in Iraqi waters in what appears to be an escalation of Iranian attacks on Gulf shipping, killing at least one crew member.
The strikes have disrupted global energy supplies, despite the largest-ever coordinated release of strategic reserves.
Iran's new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has said the Strait of Hormuz should remain closed as a tool of pressure.
Two tankers have been set ablaze in Iraqi waters, an apparent escalation in Iranian attacks that have cut off Middle East energy supplies, defying US President Donald Trump's claim to have already won the war he launched two weeks ago.
Images, verified by Reuters as having been filmed from the shore of the port of Basra, showed the ships engulfed in massive orange fireballs that lit up the night sky.
Iraqi authorities said the vessels had been attacked overnight by Iranian boats laden with explosives. At least one crew member was killed.
Hours earlier, three other ships had been struck in the Gulf. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for at least one of those attacks, on a Thai bulk carrier that was set ablaze, which the IRGC said had disobeyed its orders.
Two tankers caught fire in Iraqi waters on Thursday, marking a possible intensification of Iranian attacks. (Reuters: Mohammed)
Another container vessel reported being struck by an unknown projectile near the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, a maritime security authority said.
Speaking for the first time since he was appointed to succeed his slain father, Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said the Strait of Hormuz should remain closed as a tool of pressure.
Mojtaba Khamenei has made his first public comments since being appointed Iran's supreme leader. (Reuters: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA/File photo)
He did not appear on camera, but in a statement read on state television by a news anchor, the supreme leader said all US bases in the region should be shut down or face attack.
He also said that attacks on Iran's Gulf Arab neighbours would continue and that the regime would "obtain compensation from the enemy".
"If it refuses, we will take from its assets to the extent we deem appropriate, and if that is not possible, we will destroy its assets to the same extent,"he said.
He acknowledged in his statement the death of his father, signalling he was there in the aftermath and saw his father's body.
He also confirmed his wife, one of his sisters, his niece and the husband of his other sister were killed in the strike.
The war, which was launched by the United States and Israel and has so far killed about 2,000 people, has caused the biggest disruption to global energy supplies since the oil shocks of the 1970s.
A foreign tanker carrying Iraqi fuel oil caught fire in Iraq's territorial waters. (Reuters/Mohammed)
Oil prices surge
Undermining US and Israeli claims to have knocked out much of Iran's stock of long-range weapons, more drones were reported on Thursday flying into Kuwait, Iraq, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman.
Oil prices that had come down earlier in the week after Mr Trump said the war would soon be over rose back above $US100 a barrel.
Iran has said it would not allow oil through the world's most important energy trade route — the Strait of Hormuz that runs along its coast — until US and Israeli attacks ceased, and it would not conduct any negotiations with Washington.
Citibank announced on Thursday that it would temporarily shut its branches in the UAE, a day after Iran said it considered banks legitimate targets and warned residents in the Middle East to stay 1 kilometre from them. HSBC has shut branches in Qatar.
Thursday's surge in oil prices came despite the announcement the previous day that developed countries would release 400 million barrels of oil from their strategic reserves, nearly half of which would come from the United States.
That is by far the biggest-ever coordinated intervention into the oil markets. But it would take months to carry out and account for just three weeks of supply from the blockaded strait.
"The only way to see oil prices trade lower on a sustained basis is by getting oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz," ING analysts said.
"Failing to do so means that the market highs are still ahead of us."
Trump says 'we won'
Mr Trump, whose Republican Party is trying to hold on to Congress in an election this year, has repeatedly tried to calm energy markets this week by saying the war will soon be over and the surge in oil prices will be short lived.
Mr Trump has sought to calm energy markets, saying the war will end soon and oil price spikes will be brief. (Reuters: Kent Nishimura)
But he has not fully explained how the war will end, or presented a plan to reopen the blockaded strait. US and Israeli officials say the aim is to destroy Iran's missile and nuclear programs, but Mr Trump has also demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender" and the power to determine its leaders.
"You never like to say too early you won. We won," Mr Trump told a campaign-style rally in Hebron, Kentucky, on Wednesday.
"In the first hour, it was over."
The United States had "virtually destroyed Iran", he said. But he added, "We don't want to leave early, do we? We got to finish the job."
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