Updated on: August 24, 2026 / 10:47 AM EDT
/ CBS News
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a video statement Monday that the Iranian-allied rebels had struck the Saudi oil tanker Amzan in the northern Red Sea, off the coast of Yanbu, with a ballistic missile.
The claim came hours after the British Navy's Maritime Operations Center said a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile about 63 miles off Yanbu, causing a fire on the main deck, but harming no members of the crew.
Saree said the Houthis "succeeded in targeting the Saudi enemy's oil tanker Amzan," calling the strike "accurate and direct" and claiming it had prompted "a number of other ships in the targeted area to flee."
He said it was part of the Iranian-allied group's ongoing effort to blockade Saudi ships and ports in the Red Sea, which the Houthis announced in July. They have since attacked multiple Saudi-owned tankers in the region.
Iran had warned throughout the first phases of the war with the U.S. that it could ask its Houthi allies to disrupt shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which is the southern gateway to the Red Sea, in response to U.S. naval operations in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf.
Iran's national police chief, Brig. Gen. Ahmad-Reza Radan, warned Monday that Iran's adversaries were seeking to exploit economic and social grievances to trigger unrest, potentially across the entire country.
"The enemy is seeking to create unrest in a part of the country or throughout the country, and there are many pretexts, including livelihoods, gasoline, the economy and unemployment," Radan said hours before the U.S. Treasury unveiled a new package of sanctions that President Trump has said will hit Iran with an "economic D-Day."
Radan, cited by the semi-official Tasnim News agency, urged police to adopt a pre-emptive approach to any potential unrest, including by identifying what he described as hidden networks in society and on social media and confronting those who seek to incite the public.
Hours before the U.S. Treasury was set to unveil a raft of new sanctions aimed at squeezing Iran's economy to force the Islamic Republic to capitulate in the war launched by the U.S. and Israel almost six months ago, President Trump declared the theocracy to be "completely collapsing."
In a brief post on his Truth Social network Monday, Mr. Trump wrote simply that "IRAN IS COMPLETELY COLLAPSING!!!," without offering any further context.
He previously vowed that the new U.S. tactic in the war, which represents a shift from military strikes and threats to sanctions-based financial warfare, would impose an "economic D-Day" on Iran.
Iran has, thus far, dismissed the U.S. plans to ratchet up sanctions, noting that the Islamic Republic has already withstood decades of U.S. economic punishment.
Iran's Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said Monday that the country's leaders must speak honestly with the public about economic difficulties facing the country, but he argued that pressure from the U.S. will ultimately fail to force the nation to capitulate.
"I believe we must speak honestly with the people," Hemmati said at the Entrepreneurs' Assembly in Tehran. "We are meeting the people's basic needs. If our exports are cut off, we have made preparations for that as well."
