Hegseth estimates rising cost of Iran war now at $37.5bn – as it happened

This blog is now closed. Read our latest full report here. To recap, the Houthis, who control northern and western Yemen including the coast at the mouth of the Red Sea, announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on ⁠Monday. The announcement already appears to be having an impact. Two tankers which had just loaded Saudi crude bound for China and India at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu made U-turns on Tuesday, heading towards the Suez Canal rather ‌than out through the Bab el-Mandeb into the Indian Ocean. Assessing the situation, British maritime risk management group Vanguard said: double quotation markThe developments represent the first confirmed changes to commercial tanker routing following the (Houthi) embargo and are likely to increase disruption to Saudi crude exports and regional shipping patterns.” With the war shutting the strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea has served as the main alternate route out for millions of barrels of Saudi oil per day, diverted by pipeline through Yanbu. We’re closing this page now but you can read our latest full report here. A summary of the day’s biggest news is below. Thanks for following along. The US military said it completed