Live Updates: Strait of Hormuz traffic falls to new low as Iran-backed Houthis kill 6 in Red Sea, authorities say - cbsnews.com

BREAKING: Strait of Hormuz traffic falls to a new low as Iran-backed Houthis kill 6 in Red Sea vessel attacks, authorities say, with oil prices edging higher.

Six crew members are dead after Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. Authorities say the Iran-backed group struck commercial shipping, and it makes this one of the deadliest days on that waterway in months.

At the same time, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen to a new low. That narrow corridor carries a fifth of the world's oil, and shipowners are choosing to stay away rather than risk their crews. Oil prices are already edging higher on the news.

Every attack like this hardens the case in Washington and in European capitals for a response, and the first tool governments usually reach for is sanctions on Tehran. That's the question I'm watching now. New Western sanctions on Iran over the Red Sea attacks, announced by September the fifteenth.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.

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