//The Wire//2300Z July 21, 2026//
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//BLUF: HOUTHIS ANNOUNCE EMBARGO OF SAUDI OIL TANKERS. LARGE SCALE BOMBINGS OF IRAN CONTINUE. ANDY BURNHAM ASSUMES OFFICE AS BRITISH PRIME MINISTER. STABBING REPORTED AT CHURCH IN IRELAND.//
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-International Events-
Middle East : The war continues as before with a new series of attacks taking place overnight, with CENTCOM conducting their 7th wave of airstrikes within Iran since the break of the ceasefire. In Jordan, the Tower 22 Base was struck again, with Iranian ballistic missiles targeting an aircraft hangar as well as a warehouse.
Bahrain: Significant Iranian targeting continued with the Iranians striking the electrical substation powering an Amazon data center. The data center itself was not hit, but the center remains offline due to the power source being cut.
Black Sea: The targeting of oil tankers by both Ukraine and Russia has continued, with concerns growing regarding the wider threats to petroleum infrastructure. Yesterday, Kazakhstan halted all shipments of oil through their pipelines that eventually arrive at the Russian oil terminals on the Black Sea, due to the threats presented by Ukrainian drones.
Ireland: This morning a stabbing attack was reported at Holy Cross Church in Tramore, Wateford. One woman was stabbed at the altar shortly before Mass began, with the assailant fleeing the scene before being detained a short distance from the church. The victim remains hospitalized with serious wounds following the attack.
United Kingdom: Yesterday Andy Burnham formally transitioned into the role of Prime Minister. This afternoon, he authorized the use of British bases by the United States to conduct strikes in Iran, marking a more public foreign policy departure from Starmer's government.
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Analyst Comments: In the Red Sea, things are not going so well. Last night, the Houthis claimed to have partially closed the Bab el Mandeb Strait, threatening another major global maritime chokepoint. This announcement has been implemented as a blockade of Saudi ports, with the Houthi's claiming that all ships bound for Saudi Arabia will be attacked. The status of other ships just passing through the area remains unclear.
As a reminder, the US already fought the Houthis, specifically over their closure of the Bab el Mandeb Strait last year. That conflict resulted in a de facto Houthi victory after the US ceased the bombing campaign without securing the defeat of the Houthis, and many shipping companies have, to this day, continued to avoid the Red Sea route altogether. So far, the Houthi's have not struck any vessels however reports suggest they may have turned a couple of tankers around without missiles being fired.
The Houthis are perhaps an even more substantial threat to the region than most realize, simply due to the weapons available to them. Unlike Iran, which has the capability of hitting individual ships in the comparatively cramped Strait of Hormuz, the Houthis have historically had to rely on the sledgehammer approach. It is true that the Houthis will strike vessels in their backyard with relative ease, but their main target is the Saudi port of Yanbu, far to the north on the east coast of the Red Sea. From that distance, the Houthis can't hit individual ships...they will be hitting the oil terminal itself. That's comparatively worse than striking just one ship; the Houthi targeting efforts are a much more blunt instrument than observed with Iran, and as a result they are more likely to cause damage that lasts a long time. This was already demonstrated by their previous targeting efforts during the short-lived war last year. The Houthis can also hurt the United States more directly too...Camp Lemonnier in Djbouti is just 70 miles away from Yemen, on the other side of the Strait. This has historically been a non-combat post, but this can change in an instant, if the belligerents choose to escalate this war to include two continents.
Analyst: S2A1
Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground
NomadNet: 5fa68c88be727a0e1a250a75e5e79269
Disclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report.
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