War, latest news. Houthis: US intervention in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait would be a red line

Advisers from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (the Pasdaran) were “on the ground”, helping to “direct the fighting”, in support of the recent advance by Houthi rebels in western Yemen, which enabled them to gain control of strategic areas along the coast at the expense of the pro-government forces backed by Riyadh: this is according to a report by the Associated Press on its website, citing ten senior officials and military sources from both sides as evidence to support the claim. This intervention, the AP adds, “demonstrates how Iran has turned the Houthis into a key regional partner, capable of opening a new front in the wider war with the United States”. For the pro-Tehran rebels, this month’s advance has been “the greatest territorial gain in recent years”, within the context of the devastating war that has ravaged Yemen since 2014. In their rapid offensive, the Houthis have also exploited internal divisions within the militias allied with the official Yemeni government backed by Saudi Arabia, the AP adds. The pro-Iranian fighters have also “managed to infiltrate the internal communications of one of the main opposing forces”, the National Resistance, thereby enabling them to “monitor its movements and sow confusion”. The hasty retreat of pro-government forces from key locations such as the coastal town of Mokha and strategic islands in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait area has further enhanced the effectiveness of the Houthis’ advance.

Trump’s Board of Peace is set to present a plan today, during a meeting of member states, for the initial reconstruction of Gaza, worth $2.45 billion and spanning six months. This is reported by Barak Ravid on Axios and the Israeli channel N12. The proposal, which comprises 66 projects, is one of the most comprehensive roadmaps drawn up to date for the reconstruction of post-war Gaza. According to a copy of the plan obtained by News 12, the document includes provisions for temporary accommodation, rubble clearance, hospital rehabilitation, economic recovery and the deployment of a multinational security force.

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, held talks with his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, during which he criticised France’s “interventionist” stance towards Iran and urged the French embassy to comply with national laws and regulations.

Araghchi also described France’s stance on regional developments as “unacceptable”, particularly with regard to the US and Israeli military aggression against Iran.

NAIROBI – From a geographical advantage to a political, economic and military threat. With dangers looming over a region already unsettled by internal and external turmoil: the Horn of Africa. Djibouti, with just over a million inhabitants in an area similar in size to that of Slovenia, finds itself facing a crisis fuelled by what is, or was, its main resource: its access to Bab el-Mandeb, the strait separating the Horn of Africa from the Arabian Peninsula and channelling energy and trade flows between the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

Djibouti owes an estimated 76 per cent of its GDP to its port; it handles almost 97 per cent of trade bound for Ethiopia under Abiy Ahmed and is home to five permanent US military bases, France, China, Japan and Italia, in addition to troops from other countries and the base for the EU Aspides mission. The incursions in March and April by the Houthis, the pro-Iranian rebels in Yemen, had already sparked fears about the sustainability of this model. The scenario is now repeating itself, on an even larger scale. The Houthis have captured Perim, an island at the heart of the chokepoint that allows them to threaten or completely block transit.

France is prepared to take part in an international operation in the Strait of Hormuz, provided it has a clear mandate and is exclusively defensive in nature, but it has no intention of entering into a confrontation with Iran. This was stated by French President Emmanuel Macron in an interview with ABC News in New York.

“We are ready to take part in an international operation with a clear and purely defensive mandate. I do not wish to engage in a confrontation with any country, but we are ready to play a greater role in order to safeguard certain capabilities and facilitate transit,” Macron said.

A security and military operation carried out at dawn last Friday in the heart of Sana’a is reported to have targeted a secret communications network linked to the Houthis’ command and control system, with the aim of foiling an attack on Saudi Arabia planned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards from Yemeni territory. This was reported by Al Arabiya, citing a report by Sheba Intelligence, though without specifying which force was responsible for the drones and the team deployed in the operation. According to the report, the operation, codenamed ‘In the Heart of the Enemy’, combined air and ground operations. The drones reportedly identified and tracked the nodes of a fibre-optic communications network, enabling a ground team to strike a main communications centre connected to the network within the Yemeni capital. According to Al Arabiya, four Iranian experts involved in the network were also killed in the operation.

The number of US military personnel killed in the conflict between the United States and Iran has risen to 19. This is according to the latest official figures released by the Pentagon, which has revised the death toll among US forces involved in the operation against Tehran upwards by one.

The identity of the latest victim has not yet been officially disclosed.

Oil prices have opened lower: Brent crude futures have fallen by 0.92 per cent to $98.34 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is also down by $1.37 (-1.51%), falling to $89.15 per barrel.

Iran has conveyed its conditions for an agreement to the United States, via Qatar in New York, calling, amongst other things, for an end to the war “on all fronts”, a halt to US military actions and the naval blockade, and the release of Iranian assets. This was stated by the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, to the IRNA news agency.

Baghaei clarified that contacts with the US side had taken place via the Qatari mediator and had served to convey the conditions set by Tehran.

The United States and Iran have concluded a new round of talks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, conducted through mediators who shuttled between the two delegations. This was announced by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

“Today, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, we held lengthy talks with the Iranian delegation through mediators, who shuttled between the two sides throughout the day,” Witkoff wrote on X.

Trump’s speech at the UN General Assembly. “Whilst others spoke of peace, I made it a reality; America is stronger than ever,” he began, before warning Tehran: “I am convinced it will strike a deal after the mid-term elections or I will destroy it,” he says, revealing US-Iran talks on the sidelines of the General Assembly. But the Iranian military retorts: “We are ready to inflict devastating and unpredictable blows.”