Iran strikes ships, expands no-go zone outside Hormuz strait

BREAKING: Iran says it attacked more than a dozen vessels trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and expanded its no-go zone outside the strategic waterway, sending oil above $100 a barrel.

Iran says it attacked more than a dozen ships in the Strait of Hormuz today.

Tehran also announced it's expanding the no-go zone outside the waterway it has now blockaded for months. This is the narrow channel that carries roughly a fifth of the world's oil, and you can see it here. One of the vessels hit was reportedly an Iranian tanker itself, damaged in the strait, these are the pictures coming in.

Oil went straight back above one hundred dollars a barrel. And this isn't happening in isolation. Washington is running a counter-blockade of Iranian ports, and the two sides have been trading fire for weeks. Iran claimed hits on two American ships just days ago, which the Pentagon flatly denied.

So the picture tonight is two blockades squeezing the same stretch of water, and every tanker captain in the Gulf deciding whether a hundred-dollar barrel is worth the run. Right now, more than a dozen crews just found out what it costs.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.