Yemen’s Houthis declare naval blockade against Saudi Arabia
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have announced a maritime embargo of Saudi Arabia.
The rebels “declare a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of ‘an eye for an eye’ effective immediately upon the issuance of this statement,” military spokesperson Yahya Saree said.
The territory controlled by the Houthis in Yemen sits alongside the critical Bab al-Mandab strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, and is vulnerable to Houthi attacks by drones missiles and small boats. The Red Sea route is responsible for about 15% of global naval shipping trade.
The decision by the Houthis could put new pressure on Saudi Arabia as it is using its East-West Pipeline to try to get oil out of the kingdom as the strait of Hormuz remains in the effective control of Iran.
Tensions between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia were inflamed earlier this month after Yemeni government planes, supported by Saudi Arabia, bombed the Houthi-controlled Sana’a airport in protest at Iranian efforts to send a plane to the city containing a Houthi delegation returning from the funeral of the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. The Houthis responded by targeting Saudi Arabia’s Abha international airport.
The Houthi militant group controls Sana’a, while Yemen’s internationally-recognised government, backed by Saudi Arabia, is based in the southern Yemeni city of Aden. For over a decade, aircraft entering Yemeni airspace have needed permission from the Saudi-led coalition first.
Key events
US says latest strikes hit Iran sites including military command centres
The US military says it has completed its latest round of strikes against Iran and asserts that transits through the strait of Hormuz “continue”.
Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement posted on X:
U.S. forces struck Iranian military command centers, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defense systems to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking commercial vessels flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Commercial vessel transits through the vital international maritime corridor continue. Since early May, CENTCOM forces have helped facilitate the transit of approximately 900 commercial vessels and 450 million barrels of crude oil.
Centcom also said:
American forces remain postured and prepared to hold Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression toward civilian mariners seeking to freely and openly transit the strait.
The latest strikes were completed at 9pm ET (1am GMT Tuesday), it said.
The US military has just said it finished its latest round of strikes against Iran.
More on this in a moment.
Oil prices ease after hitting highest level in over a month
Oil prices have softened as markets weigh reports of mediation efforts between the US and Iran against the fresh strikes between the two and threats of a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthis.
Brent crude futures eased 35 cents, or 0.4%, to $88.87 a barrel by 0052 GMT on Tuesday, while US West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was steady at $82.47 a barrel, Reuters is reporting.
Both contracts were trading below their highest levels in more than a month hit in the previous session.
The chief market analyst at KCM Trade, Tim Waterer, said:
The threats of a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia by the Houthis are significant because they raise the risk of disruption to another major oil exporter.
The latest US-Iran hostilities are likely to cast a shadow over a diplomatic gathering this week in south-east Asia – a region that relies heavily on Middle East oil and gas and was severely hit by the global supply and price shocks the war triggered.
The Middle East crisis is expected to feature prominently in the talks of foreign ministers from the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila, said a spokesperson for host the Philippines.
“We’re looking at several occasions where they can raise this very, very critical topic,” Dominic Xavier Imperial said, quoted by Reuters.
The import-dependent Philippines declared a national energy emergency in March and has been forced to cast an ever-wider net for fuel, including purchases of oil from Russia, whose foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is to arrive on Tuesday, AFP reports.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio landed in Manila on Tuesday morning as the rekindled war with Iran places traditional American allies under economic strain.
More now on Iran firing missiles at a US base in Kuwait: the army was targeting US Himars missile systems, state news agency Irna said.
It quoted Iranian army officials as saying that Himars – or high mobility artillery rocket system – has “the ability to move quickly against ground targets, which, when targeted, causes damage to the offensive and defensive layers and reduces the enemy’s missile power”.
Camp Arifjan – south of Kuwait City – houses US military elements including the air force, navy, marines and coast guard.
Strikes reported in Iran as US launches 10th round of attacks
Here’s more on the US military’s 10th consecutive round of strikes on Iran to force the reopening of the strait of Hormuz.
William Christou reports that earlier on Monday, Iran’s president said the country was in a “full-scale war” after the US expanded its aerial campaign and Tehran struck Washington’s Gulf allies, even as diplomats said talks to de-escalate were continuing.
Iranian media reported strikes around Tabriz, believed to hold underground missile bases, as well as Bushehr, home to the country’s only operational civilian nuclear power plant.
The US military said it had struck “military command centres, air defence and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks”.
Iran launched attacks against Bahrain – which hosts the US navy’s fifth fleet – and Kuwait, in addition to striking tankers in the strait of Hormuz. Bahrain said its air traffic systems were damaged by the strikes but traffic was not affected.
The Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen also announced a blockade of Saudi ports.
“The reality is that today the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war,” the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said on Monday, warning it might have to endure more strikes.
US president Donald Trump signalled an escalation in tactics, saying Iran would “pay” for killing US soldiers “many times over” after multiple service members were killed in action over the weekend.
Iran’s army is saying it has targeted US missile systems at Kuwait’s Arifjan base with surface-to-air missiles, according to Iranian state television.
The Kuwait army said about an hour ago that its air defences were responding to Iranian missile and drone attacks as Tehran continues striking at US-allied countries around the Gulf region.
Robert Tait
Democrats have seized on the deaths of three US troops killed in Iranian strikes to urge Donald Trump to urgently reverse his resumption of the war with Iran amid widespread anxiety over climbing casualties.
Even as US forces launched a 10th consecutive wave of attacks against Iranian targets, concern over the deaths of American service personnel threatened to complicate moves to escalate the conflict, which has reignited after he last week walked away from a memorandum of understanding agreed with Iran in June.
The Pentagon released the names of two soldiers killed in a strike on Muwaffaq Salti air base in Jordan on Friday. They were First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas.
A third member of the armed forces was killed in northern Iraq on Saturday in what US Central Command called a “controlled detonation” of unexploded ordnance. The remains of a possible fourth dead service member were found over the weekend in Jordan.
Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut, accused Trump of having “frighteningly lost control of this war”.
A British maritime agency says it has received multiple reports that a tanker is saying it has been struck by an unknown projectile in the strait of Hormuz.
It occurred eight nautical miles north-east of Limah, Oman, and authorities are investigating, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency says in a report posted on X.
More on this as it comes to light.
Kuwait says air defences intercepting Iranian missile and drone attacks
Kuwait’s air defences are responding to hostile missile and drone attacks launched by Iran, the Kuwaiti army said on Monday.
It comes after the US military earlier announced a tenth consecutive night of strikes on Iran. Tehran has been responding with attacks on its Gulf neighbours that host US forces, including Kuwait.
The day so far
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Iranian media reported explosions in parts of the country including the port city of Bandar Abbas, after US Central Command announced a new wave of strikes on Iran for the tenth night in a row. The Mehr news agency also reported air defence systems being activated near the Bushehr nuclear power plant. “The strikes are designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” Centcom said.
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It came hours after Donald Trump said Iran would pay for killing US soldiers “many times over” after multiple service members were killed in action over the weekend. The US military on Monday identified two soldiers killed in Jordan while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. An examination of remains is underway to determine whether they belong to a third service member who was reporting missing in that attack. And in Iraq, another US service member died after “a controlled detonation” of an Iranian drone. It brings the total number of US military deaths in the war with Iran, which the US and Israel started in late February, to 17.
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Earlier, Iran’s president said the country is in a “full-scale war” after the United States expanded its aerial campaign and Tehran struck Washington’s Gulf allies, even as diplomats said talks are ongoing to de-escalate. “The reality is that today the Islamic Republic of Iran is engaged in a full-scale war,” Masoud Pezeshkian, said in a statement, warning Iran might have to endure more strikes. There were glimmers of hope, however, on the diplomatic front, as Iran’s interior minister traveled to Pakistan, a key mediator in the conflict, for talks.
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Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels announced a maritime blockade Saudi Arabia after the two sides traded fire last week for the first time in years. Condemning the blockade, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said the kingdom “will take all necessary measures to protect its vessels in accordance with international law”.
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The Lebanese army began taking charge of security in three southern villages, the United States said, as a deal to secure an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah faced its first test on the ground. The US state department said operations had started in “pilot zones” in Froun, Srifa and Zawtar al-Gharbiya in accordance with the trilateral framework. However, the mayor of Froun, Hassan Bazzi, told Al Jazeera on Monday that the Lebanese army had not yet begun deploying in Zawtar al-Gharbiya, because Israeli forces are yet to withdraw from the outskirts of the town. “There have been no new developments in the town of Froun. The situation remains unchanged,” said.
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Trump also said on Monday that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested when he visits the United States, after New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was still considering the move. “Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America,” Trump wrote on social media, without referring to Mamdani’s comments.
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Hamas named Khalil al-Hayya as its new overall leader, according to a statement from the Palestinian militant group, succeeding Yahya Sinwar who was killed by the Israeli military in Gaza in October 2024. Hayya, the group’s exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator, is generally seen as more hardline than Khaled Meshaal, the head of the militant group’s office in exile and the other frontrunner for the leadership.
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Jordan said three missiles launched from Iran were intercepted. No injuries or material damage has been reported. Sirens sounded in the capital Amman on Monday evening, AFP reported.
Saudi Arabia condemns Houthi maritime blockade
Saudi Arabia on Monday condemned an announcement by Yemen’s Houthis of a maritime blockade of the kingdom, as the Iran-backed rebels threatened the top oil exporter’s ability to bypass the strait of Hormuz.
In a statement the Saudi foreign ministry said it “expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s strongest condemnation of the statements made by the so-called military spokesman of the terrorist Houthi militia … imposing a maritime blockade on the Kingdom.”
The kingdom, it said, “will take all necessary measures to protect its vessels in accordance with international law.”
It added that Riyadh “continues to support the brotherly Yemeni people and their legitimate government”.
Iranian state TV is reporting explosions in the port city of Bandar Abbas. And the Mehr news agency is reporting air defence systems being activated near the Bushehr nuclear power plant.
US launches new round of strikes on Iran
The US military began a fresh round of strikes against Iran about 20 minutes ago, according to Centcom.
“The strikes are designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” it said in a statement.
