File Photo: A protest in Iran showing Iranian flag, Hezbollah flag and the Houthi flag. Iranian and Hezbollah commanders are helping direct Houthi attacks in Yemen.. Yemen leader asked president Trump for help against Houthis. He reportedly didn’t promise military support
Here is the latest :
- A spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened Sunday to respond to any new U.S. assault with unspecified new weapons and an expansion of “the geography” of the nearly seven-month war.
- President Trump told Fox News on Sunday that he’s in “deciding mode” as he considers options including “wiping Iran out,” “letting them rot economically,” or trying again to strike a deal to end the war. He said he’d “probably” be open to meeting his Iranian counterpart on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week.
- U.S. embassies across the Middle East issued security alerts Sundayas fighting between Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi-backed coalition intensified. The embassies told U.S. nationals to exercise caution and be prepared for travel disruptions, citing the “potential for unforeseen escalation” in the region.
U.K. to provide Saudi Arabia some military support to counter Houthi attacks
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Monday the United Kingdom has agreed to provide limited military support to Saudi Arabia to repel attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Burnham told reporters as he flew to the United Nations General Assembly in New York that he had agreed the Royal Air Force will provide air-to-air refueling of Saudi planes. The agreement is for a matter of weeks.
The conflict between the Houthis and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government has reignited, with the Houthis aiming missile and drone strikes at Saudi Arabia, including one that targeted Riyadh on Saturday before being intercepted. The Houthis also declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea, attacking Saudi-linked vessels and oil facilities inside the kingdom, one of the world’s top oil exporters.
The Houthis advanced inside Yemen earlier this month, seizing the crucial port city of Mokha and key Red Sea islands, allowing them to better monitor shipping traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb, through which some 12% of world trade normally passes.
President Trump weighed striking the Houthis over the weekend after Saudi Arabia requested help, but late Saturday, he decided against ordering U.S. strikes, CBS News has previously reported.
Burnham said he was “acting to secure the interests of Britain and the wider region, because of course Saudi Arabia has been experiencing attack, is looking at potential further disruption, and we need to keep those pathways [for oil] open.”
Britain has condemned the Houthi attacks and said the U.K. will “work with partners to support regional stability, protect civilians and support humanitarian access.”
Houthi leader lashes out at Saudis in televised speech
The leader of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen used the anniversary of his group’s overthrow of the Yemeni government to lash out at Saudi Arabia.
In a pre-recorded speech aired Monday, Abdul Malik al-Houthi said his group’s demands include an end to what he called Saudi “aggression” and the blockade the Saudi-led coalition has imposed on the rebels for about a decade.
Iraq to suspend Iranian airlines sanctioned by the U.S., sources tell AFP news agency
Iraq will suspend flights by Iranian airlines after the U.S. Treasury chief warned that the sanctioned airlines would be “shut down” worldwide later this week.
Two Iraqi government sources confirmed the decision to AFP on Monday, with one saying that Baghdad would “enforce the ban on Iranian airlines in accordance with the U.S. Treasury decision starting Tuesday at dawn.” The source warned that “countries that do not implement the decision risk sanctions.
On Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that Iranian airlines will have trouble functioning under the weight of American sanctions.
2 tankers hit by “projectile” and debris in Hormuz, U.K. military maritime agency says
A maritime security agency said Monday that two tankers were hit either by an “unknown projectile” or debris from one in the Strait of Hormuz, where vessels have come under repeated fire since the Iran war broke out.
Iran is seeking to maintain a stranglehold on the vital waterway as leverage in its war with the United States, while Washington has imposed a counterblockade of Iranian ports, with both sides striking ships they accuse of noncompliance.
In the first incident reported on Monday, “a tanker conducting an inbound transit was struck by an unknown projectile” in the Hormuz, said the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) operations center
Yemen leader asked Trump for help against Houthis. He didn’t promise military support
The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council held a call with President Trump in which he requested American support against the Iranian-backed Houthis, a source in his office told the AFP news agency on Monday.
The president did not promise military support, the source said, adding that the call took place on Sunday and was intended as a show of solidarity with Yemen’s embattled government after the Houthis seized the country’s entire Red Sea coast in a lightning offensive.
Mr. Trump weighed up striking Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis over the weekend but ended up holding off late Saturday night, sources familiar with the discussions told CBS News on Monday.
CBS
