17 million ago Iran-backed Houthis capture more territory in Yemen Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have captured more strategic territory near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, government and Houthi officials said Monday. Houthi rebels deployed fighters to the Hanish Islands, 100 miles north of the entrance to the strategic strait, after Yemeni government forces withdrew from the territory, according to two government officials and a Houthi official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The capture of the islands came after the Houthis expanded their control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait late last week with the capture of the port city of Mokha. The capture of the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish came as Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia attempted to counterattack over the weekend following rapid advances by rebels around the strait. Bab el-Mandeb is a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz for Saudi Arabia’s energy exports. but attacks on Saudi infrastructure and ships in the Red Sea by the Houthis and other Iranian forces have severely impeded shipping through the waterway. The Houthi-Saudi escalation adds pressure on global oil supplies and prices, which could give Iran greater leverage in its war with the United States. “The fact that, under these circumstances, the United States continues to invent a lie to exacerbate divisions between countries in the region is one of the consequences of the problems that exist in our region,” Baghaei told reporters at his weekly press conference. No group claimed responsibility. for the attack, but Saudi Arabia has previously accused Iranian-backed militias in Iraq of attacking its oil infrastructure. 4:04 AM Fighting intensifies in Yemen after Houthis expand control of key sea route The conflict in Yemen escalated on Sunday as government forces launched attacks on Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea coast, and the Houthis fired on neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen’s government. Yemen’s government pledged to send more forces to the Red Sea coastal region as an official acknowledged a “painful” defeat last week when the Houthis captured the port city of Mokha and an island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The strait is the southern gateway to the Red Sea, making it a crucial alternative transportation route for Saudi energy products as the Strait of Hormuz is severely hampered by the US-Iran war. The escalation between the Houthis and the Saudi military has increased pressure on global oil supplies, pushing crude prices toward four-month highs while threatening to further choke off Saudi Arabia’s oil exports. CBS/AP 4:04 AM Oman-Iran meeting in Strait of Hormuz postponed Oman’s foreign minister said the country had to postpone a meeting Monday in Muscat with Iran and other countries in the region to discuss the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had said foreign ministers of regional countries would meet in Oman to discuss efforts by Iran and Oman, located across the strait, to manage shipping in it. However, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said Sunday evening in a post on X that the meeting had been postponed “in the interest of consensus.” Iran and Oman agreed to postpone the talks “at the request of some countries in the region,” said Mohammad Ali Bak, an Iranian Foreign Ministry official quoted by IRNA in Iran, Oman and mediating nation Pakistan had expressed optimism a couple of weeks ago that the two states coasting the strait were prepared to announce an agreement on a new mechanism to control commercial traffic through the vital waterway. CBS/AP 4:04 AM Oil prices continue to rise Oil prices rose early Monday as tensions between the United States and Iran continued to escalate while Iran-backed Houthi rebels intensified attacks on Saudi Arabia. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.2% to $107.94 a barrel. It was at about $72 a barrel before the start of the war in Iran in late February. Benchmark US crude oil also rose 3.2% to $103.26 per barrel. 4:04 AM Iran’s president says Tehran and the United Arab Emirates want to “turn the page” on war Iran and the United Arab Emirates, whose relations have deteriorated since the start of the war in the Middle East, want to “turn the page,” the Iranian president said Sunday. “For the first time since the war and the incidents in the Persian Gulf, we had a constructive exchange with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi,” President Massoud Pezeshkian said a day after a meeting with Sheikh Khaled Bin Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in India on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. “It was agreed that we would turn the page, look to the future and build it together.” After the United States and Israel sparked war in the Middle East by launching joint attacks on Iran in late February, Tehran retaliated against America’s allies in the region, with the United Arab Emirates bearing much of the brunt. In August, the United Arab Emirates announced that it would suspend trade and financial exchanges with Iran. A lifeline for Iran, which struggles under the weight of international and US sanctions. CBS/AFP
