Red Sea

Iran threatens to block exports, imports in Gulf if US blockade continues

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A view shows a large billboard displayed at Vanak Square in Tehran, Iran, on April 12, 2026.[Fatemeh Bahrami – Anadolu Agency]

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters threatened Wednesday to block exports and imports through the Gulf, the Sea of Oman and the Red Sea in response to the US naval blockade on Iranian ports.

If the “aggressive and terrorist US” continues “illegal maritime blockade actions and creates insecurity for Iranian commercial vessels and oil tankers,” such moves would be seen as “a prelude to violating the ceasefire,” Major General Ali Abdollahi, the commander of the Central Headquarters, said in a statement carried by Fars News Agency.

He warned that if the blockade persists, Iran’s armed forces “will not allow any exports or imports to continue” in strategic waterways, including the Gulf, Sea of Oman, and the Red Sea.

The US has imposed a naval blockade around Iranian ports following their rare direct talks in Pakistan, which ended without an agreement this weekend.

More than 3,300 people have been killed in US-Israeli airstrikes in Iran since Feb. 28, according to Iranian authorities.

Tehran retaliated with missile and drone strikes targeting Israel, Iraq, Jordan, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets before a two-week ceasefire was announced last week.

READ: Iran interior minister dismisses impact of blockade threats

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Continue ReadingIran threatens to block exports, imports in Gulf if US blockade continues

Hebrew report: Houthis deploy advanced weaponry in Red Sea: Signs of preparation for long battle?

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Thousands of demonstrators gather at the Sebin Street after Friday prayers to show solidarity with Palestinians and protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza, following a call of the Iranian-backed Houthis in Sanaa, Yemen on March 08, 2024. [Mohammed Hamoud – Anadolu Agency]

A Hebrew report said the Houthis have transferred missiles, rocket launchers, drone systems, and other equipment to several provinces, while restoring communication and technology infrastructure damaged by US strikes.

According to Line of Defence, a platform specialised in security and military affairs, Yemeni security sources said on Sunday that the Ansar Allah movement (Houthis) moved advanced weapons and military equipment to the western coastal areas overlooking the Red Sea. They also redeployed naval, coastal, and defensive munitions in the western mountain range.

The platform quoted the sources as saying the Houthis had relocated missiles, rocket systems, drone technology, and guidance equipment to Hodeidah and Hajjah provinces, as well as to western areas of Raymah, Dhamar, Mahwit, and Ibb, in addition to the parts of Taiz under their control. The report, published by Maariv, questioned whether the Houthis were preparing for a long-term confrontation.

The report added that the transferred weapons also included “missile batteries and radar systems” positioned near Hodeidah city, its port, and several areas in the north. It noted that the Houthis also redeployed naval and aerial assets in key strategic mountain locations overlooking the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, placing them in secure bases and shelters, some of which are new.

READ: Israeli Navy strikes power plant in Yemen’s capital Sanaa

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Continue ReadingHebrew report: Houthis deploy advanced weaponry in Red Sea: Signs of preparation for long battle?

Yemen’s Ansar Allah sinks two ships bound for Israel in the Red Sea

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Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Eternity C sinking after it was attacked by Ansar Allah at sea. Photo: Ansar Allah Media Center

The two strategic operations are part of an escalation by the Yemeni resistance group against the Israeli occupation, in response to its continued genocide in Gaza.

The Ansar Allah-led Yemeni armed forces escalated their operations in the Red Sea last week against merchant vessels that violated the movement’s previously declared naval blockade by docking in the ports of occupied Palestine.

“Magic Seas”

The Yemeni Armed Forces’ spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced in a televised speech on Monday, July 7, that Liberian-flagged Greek-operated cargo ship “Magic Seas” was struck, one day earlier, by two unmanned boats, five ballistic and cruise missiles, and three drones.

Saree added that the attack sank the ship, but the Yemeni Forces allowed its crew to safely evacuate.

“Eternity C”

On Wednesday, July 9, Ansar Allah released a video of an attack launched Monday on Liberian-flagged bulk carrier “Eternity C”, as it made its way to the occupied Palestinian city of Umm al-Rashrash (also known as Eilat).

Repeated warnings and calls by Ansar Allah’s naval forces for the crew to evacuate the vessel prior to the attack were heard at the beginning of the video. However, the ship continued sailing towards the port, ignoring the instructions.

Saree confirmed that “Eternity C” completely sank after it was targeted with an unmanned surface vehicle, and six cruise and ballistic missiles. He also pointed out that a special unit from the Yemeni naval forces moved to rescue several members of the vessel crew, who were provided with medical care and transported to a safe location.

According to media reports, the crew consisted of 25 members, four of whom were killed in the attack, 10 were saved after a 48-hour rescue operation, while 11 are still missing, including six who are believed to be taken by Ansar Allah to an unknown location.

Ansar Allah hits Ben Gurion Airport and vows to continue maritime blockade until Israel ends Gaza genocide

The recent escalation of Ansar Allah’s attacks has not been limited to the ban on Israel’s maritime navigation. Yemeni missiles have continued to target strategic sites in the depth of the territories occupied by Israel.

On Thursday, July 10, the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a strike on the Israeli occupation’s Lod Airport (known as Ben Gurion) using a Zolfiqa precision ballistic missile. 

Ansar Allah confirmed the success of the operation in a statement, noting that it resulted in halting air traffic, and driving millions of panicked Israeli settlers into shelters after air raid sirens sounded in over 300 towns and cities occupied by Israel. 

The Yemeni resistance movement vowed to expand their operations by targeting more military and strategic Israeli sites inside occupied Palestine, while persisting with a maritime blockade on Israeli ports, until “the crimes of the Zionist entity in Gaza are brought to an end.”

Continue ReadingYemen’s Ansar Allah sinks two ships bound for Israel in the Red Sea

Yemen’s Houthis claim attack on sinking cargo ship in Red Sea

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Maxar satellite imagery of the Greek-flagged crude oil tanker Sounion that was recently attacked by Yemen’s Houthis [Satellite image (c) 2024 Maxar Technologies]

Yemen’s Houthi group claimed responsibility on Monday for an attack on the bulk carrier Magic Seas in the Red Sea, which has left the vessel taking on water and is expected to sink, Anadolu reports.

In a televised statement, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the vessel was hit by “two unmanned boats, five ballistic and cruise missiles, and three drones” on Sunday.

“The operation directly hit the ship, leading to water ingress. It is now exposed to sink,” Saree said. “Our forces allowed the crew to safely evacuate.”

The Houthi spokesman said the Magic Seas and its affiliated company violated what the group called a “ban on entering occupied Palestinian ports,” in reference to Israeli ports. He did not name the vessel’s owner or operator.

Saree added that the attack followed several warnings sent to the ship, which he said were ignored by the crew.

The Houthis have intensified missile and drone strikes on Israel since the Israeli military resumed attacks on Gaza in March after two months of a shaky ceasefire.

Since November 2023, the group has also targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 57,500 people have been killed in an Israeli onslaught.

READ: Houthis fire 2 missiles at Israel in response to strikes on Yemeni ports and power station

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Continue ReadingYemen’s Houthis claim attack on sinking cargo ship in Red Sea

Yemen’s Ansar Allah reaches ceasefire deal with US that excludes strikes on Israel

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Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Ansar Allah Photo: Tehran Times

While Trump declared the truce agreement a US victory, Ansar Allah said that Washington contacted them in order to “avoid drowning in the mountains of Yemen”.

Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement reached a ceasefire deal with the United States on Wednesday, May 7, according to Oman, which mediated the negotiations.

The deal stipulates the halt of Ansar Allah’s attacks on US ships in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, and an end to US aggression on Yemen. However, it does not prevent the Yemeni movement from launching attacks on Israel. 

“Following recent discussions and contacts conducted by the Sultanate of Oman with the United States and the relevant authorities in Sana’a, in the Republic of Yemen, with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides,” Omani Foreign Minister, Badr Albusaidi, wrote on X.

“In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping,” the minister added.

Peoples Dispatch spokes to a member of the Communist Party of Jordan, Dr. Emad Al-Hatabeh, to discuss the ceasefire, which he described as a “sudden development in the war in the Red Sea.”

Dr. Emad Al-Hatabeh indicated that “both the US and Oman didn’t comment on Ansar Allah’s missiles targeting Israel, especially that this agreement was reached shortly after a Yemeni missile reached Ben Gurion airport, near the occupied city of Lydda (also known as Lod).”

As per Al-Hatabeh’s analysis, “important questions about this agreement are left without answers. Taking into consideration the Omani role in the American – Iranian negotiations, is the ceasefire in the Red Sea part of the deal? Another question will arise from this assumption, did America give up some of Israel’s interests in order to reach an agreement with Iran? Where does this agreement leave Netanyahu’s government, especially after Ansar Allah’s spokesman told Reuters that the agreement doesn’t include Israel.”

Ansar Allah says the US contacted them seeking a truce

One day before Oman announced that the deal was sealed, US President Donald Trump alluded that a ceasefire agreement was about to be reached, claiming that Ansar Allah agreed to stop the fight with the US because they “capitulated”. 

“They just don’t want to fight, and we will honor that and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated,” Trump said from the White House on Tuesday, May 6.

“They will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that’s what the purpose of what we were doing. So that’s just news. We just found out about that. So I think that’s very, very positive,” he added.

Although Trump bragged about the deal, presenting it as a US victory, analysts suggest that it was Ansar Allah that forced the world’s greatest military superpower to the negotiating table, after paralyzing US naval traffic off the Yemeni coast. 

Ansar Allah’s chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdulsalam, confirmed during an interview with Almasirah TV channel, that the movement “did not make any request to the Americans to hold ceasefire talks”. Abdulsalam asserted that, on the contrary, the movement recently received US requests and messages seeking a truce, via the Sultanate of Oman.

The Yemeni official pointed out that US endeavors to reach a ceasefire with Ansar Allah were a great disappointment to Israel. “The Israelis have endured great disappointment after the stance of the US, which tried to walk away and avoid drowning in the mountains of Yemen,” he said.

However, Abdulsalam clarified that Ansar Allah is still “assessing this US position so that the facts on the ground do not contradict its statements”. He further warned that in the event that the US “would not abide by the agreement in any way”, the movement “will respond”.

Abdulsalam considered the deal “a success to be added to Yemen’s credit, as it enhances a situation that would leave the “usurper entity” [Israel] in a situation of loneliness, in confrontation with the great popular and military stance led by Yemen on behalf of the Arab and Islamic nation.”

The ceasefire was announced two months after Trump ordered a large-scale aerial campaign against Yemen on the pretext of protecting US shipping, air, and naval assets and to restore “navigation freedom” from Ansar Allah’s attacks. Trump’s order followed Ansar Allah’s decision to resume a ban on Israeli ships due to Israel’s continuous blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Yemen threatens Israel with a devastating and painful response for attacking Sana’a airport 

While Ansar Allah agreed to a truce with the US, it vowed to escalate its operations against Israel as long as its blockade on humanitarian aid to Gaza is not lifted. 

In response to Israel’s aggression on Sana’a International Airport on Tuesday, that destroyed terminal buildings and caused USD 500 million in damage, Yemen’s Supreme Political Council Chairman, Mahdi al-Mashat, threatened that “Sanaa’s response will be devastating, painful, and beyond what the Israeli enemy can endure.”

“From this moment onward, stay in your shelters or leave for your homelands immediately. Your failed government will no longer be able to protect you,” Al-Mashat warned Israeli people. 

Moreover, the Yemeni senior official reaffirmed that no aggression will deter Yemen from its “rightful decision” to support the people of Palestine “until the genocide ends and the siege on Gaza is lifted.”

The Yemeni Armed Forces’ spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, also confirmed in a televised statement late Wednesday, that the movement will continue its ban on Israeli ships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, alongside the comprehensive aerial blockade on Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport. 

Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

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Continue ReadingYemen’s Ansar Allah reaches ceasefire deal with US that excludes strikes on Israel