MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We're almost two weeks into renewed fighting in the Middle East that many hoped would start to wind down, but it keeps escalating.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Yeah. There have been new U.S. strikes on Iran, and Iran continues to target American bases in the Gulf and Jordan. In a few minutes, we'll speak with former national security official Jon Finer about how Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen are further complicating the war. But first, a closer look at how the conflict is affecting energy prices.
MARTIN: NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi has been following all this from Istanbul, and she's with us now. Good morning, Hadeel.
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So let's start with oil prices. They jumped significantly yesterday.
AL-SHALCHI: That's right. So Brent crude oil - which is the international standard - jumped over 6% to $100 a barrel. That's the highest it's been since May. It went down this morning when markets opened, back down to under $90. So yesterday's jump came after the Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis attacked two Saudi oil tankers trying to cross the Red Sea. The Houthis got involved in the war earlier this week, said it was in retaliation for a siege that Saudi Arabia placed on Yemen and for Saudi attacks on the capital's international airport.
Now, the rebel group has threatened to blockade the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean to Saudi vessels. Besides the Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb is another choke point that companies use to transport oil and fuel.
MARTIN: Where is the fighting right now?
AL-SHALCHI: So the U.S. said last night that it completed a 13th round of strikes in Iran. They attacked military command centers, drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites, they said. U.S. Central Command also said that it redirected 12 commercial vessels to prevent ships from entering or leaving Iranian ports. Iranian state media said that there were explosions in the southwest of the country. That's where some of the most sensitive military and maritime areas are. Iran retaliated with its own attacks on U.S. bases. There were sirens heard in Bahrain and Kuwait.
And then we also know that Kurdish media, close to the regional government, posted video from Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq of a drone in flames after being shot down. Erbil's International Airport said it closed briefly, but now it's reopened to traffic. And the fighting has led to some foreign missions to reduce their diplomatic footprints in Iran. The British Embassy, for example, says it's continuing to operate remotely, and they've told British citizens who are still in Iran to leave.
MARTIN: So meanwhile, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement that would allow U.S. companies to build and run nuclear power plants on Saudi soil. Almost immediately, though, there was this new wrinkle. So tell us about the deal, and then tell us what happened.
AL-SHALCHI: So yesterday, just hours after the deal was signed, President Trump posted on Truth Social that Saudi Arabia would first need to join the Abraham Accords. Now, those are a series of U.S.-brokered agreements. They were first signed in 2020, where Arab countries have to normalize diplomatic - or agree to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel. But in the agreement, there is no mention of the Abraham Accords, and Saudi Arabia has refused normalization in the past. And so far, we haven't heard from the Saudis officially yet.
I'll remind you that the agreement that they signed allow Saudi Arabia to build nuclear power plants using U.S. technology. But the agreement doesn't include what's known as the gold standard. There are provisions that would prohibit Saudi Arabia from enriching uranium and reprocessing nuclear fuel. And it also doesn't require them to adopt these terms that would lead to more international inspections.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Istanbul. Hadeel, thank you.
AL-SHALCHI: You're very welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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