The US Central Command said Iranian naval vessels threatened and harassed global shipping for decades in regional waters, “but those days are over.”
The remarks were shared over X on Saturday, March 28, as Israeli strikes on Lebanon and Iran intensified with the possible entry of Houthi rebels in the war.
Experts have warned that Houthis’ involvement in the war could have the potential to create a disastrous economic shock around the world.
If the Houthis ramp up their role in this conflict by targeting vessels in the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Red Sea, it would not only further push up oil prices but also destabilise “all of maritime security,” said Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group, a research institution. “The impact would not be limited to the energy market.”
As Iran strangles the Strait of Hormuz, countries have scrambled for alternative routes. Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is particularly crucial as it controls traffic for vessels heading to the Suez Canal through the Red Sea. To get around the Strait of Hormuz closure, Saudi Arabia is sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through the chokepoint.
About 12 per cent of the world’s trade typically passes through that waterway, including oil, natural gas, grain, and everything from toys to electronics.
The Houthis have so far refrained from attacking shipping routes in the Red Sea.
Israeli airstrikes kill two journalists in Lebanon
Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV said that its correspondent Ali Shoeib was killed Saturday, March 28, in southern Lebanon, while Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV said its reporter Fatima Ftouni was killed in the same airstrike.
Ftouni had made a live report from southern Lebanon just before the strike in the Jezzine region.
Shoeib was targeted for being a suspected Hezbollah intelligence operative, the Israeli military said, without providing evidence. Israel’s statement about the correspondent mirrored past Israeli military allegations against Palestinian journalists targeted during the Gaza war.
The Israeli army claimed that Shoeib, a prominent Lebanese war correspondent, was “operating systematically to expose the locations of (Israeli) soldiers operating in southern Lebanon.” The army also accused him of maintaining contact with Hezbollah militants and inciting against Israeli troops and civilians, without elaborating.
Al-Manar TV did not respond to the Israeli allegations, but reported on his killing in an airstrike and described him as “distinguished by his professional and credible reporting of events.”
The strike came days after an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed Mohammed Sherri, the head of political programs at Al-Manar TV, along with his wife.
Shia Muslim’s execution in Bahrain draws condemnation
Muhammad Sayed Mohsen al-Mousawi, a Shia Muslim Bahraini activist, was reportedly tortured and killed by the Bahraini forces for opposing the war in the region.
Muhammad was allegedly handed over as a ” lifeless, mutilated corpse, torn apart by the brutal torture tools at the hands of the Bahraini regime,” according to The Cradle.
11 injured in missile attack in central Israel
Israel’s rescue service Magen David Adom now says 11 people were lightly wounded in the attack in Eshtaol, near Jerusalem. Some were injured from the impact of the explosion and others hurt while running to shelters.
Among the wounded were a 75-year-old man whose roof collapsed and a 47-year-old whose doorway was blown off, medics said.
Syria intercepts drone attacks from Iraq
Syria reportedly filed drone attacks launched from Iraq, the state news agency reported, citing Syrian military.
The attacks targeted its Al-Tanf military base. However, the report did not mention the exact source of the attacks.
More Iranian, Lebanese paramedics killed in Israeli air strikes
Iran’s fire department said that six people were killed and 25 were rescued from under rubble at one of Tehran’s bombing sites. While the Civil Defence in southern Lebanon announced that at least five paramedics were killed in an Israeli raid on the Zawtar al-Gharbiya town.
Ukraine denies Iran struck Ukrainian drone warehouse in Dubai
Iran’s military joint command made the claim in a statement run by state media, without offering evidence.
The Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters said over 20 Ukrainians were in the warehouse in the United Arab Emirates and their fate was unknown.
In a news briefing, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi, however, called the Iranian allegations a “lie,” according to Ukraine’s public broadcaster.
The claim came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in the Gulf region for talks with leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar.
Air strike damages university buildings in Tehran
An airstrike hit Iran’s University of Science and Technology in Tehran on Saturday, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
The strike damaged research and educational buildings, IRNA reported, citing the university’s public relations office.
120 cluster bombs from US, Israel dismantled, IRGC says
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it has located and dismantled 120 cluster bombs in the southern Fars province. The munitions were reportedly dropped days ago during a US-Israeli attack in the village of Kafri and other nearby areas, a Fars official said.
Bahrain reports more than 40 air attacks in 24 hours
Bahrain, which hosts the US 5th Fleet, said its air defense systems have responded to 20 missiles and 23 drone attacks in the past 24 hours.
That brings the total number of projectiles fired at the Shiite majority country to 174 missiles and 385 drones since the start of the war in the Middle East on February 28.
Iran reports airstrike near Bushehr nuclear plant
An airstrike hit the grounds of Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant just before midnight, the country’s atomic energy agency reported.
The strike, which was the third in 10 days, did not cause any material damage and there were no casualties, according to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. It said no technical disruption was reported at the site.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was notified of the strike by Iran.
US troops suffer casualties at Saudi base, AP sources say
More than two dozen US troops have been wounded in Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base in the past week, according to two people who have been briefed on the matter.
Iran fired six ballistic missiles and 29 drones at the base Friday, injuring at least 15 troops, including five seriously, according to the sources who were not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The base, about 96 kilometres from the Saudi capital of Riyadh, came under attack twice earlier in the week, including a strike that wounded 14 US troops, according to the people briefed on the matter. The base is run by the Royal Saudi Air Force but is also used by US troops.
Palestinian brothers killed in Israeli strike on Gaza, hospital says
An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinian brothers Saturday morning in the Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.
The strike hit the men close to the Showa roundabout in Gaza City’s Shijaiyah neighborhood, according to the Al-Ahly hospital.
The area is close to the so-called Yellow Line which separates Israeli-controlled areas across the Gaza Strip from the rest of the enclave.
Possible breakthrough to allow aid and agricultural shipments through Hormuz
Iran agreed to allow humanitarian aid and agricultural shipments through the Strait of Hormuz following a request from the United Nations. Ali Bahreini, the country’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said Iran agreed to “facilitate and expedite” such movement.
The vital waterway usually handles a fifth of the world’s oil shipments and nearly a third of the world’s fertilizer trade. While markets and governments have largely focused on blocked supplies of oil and natural gas, the restriction of fertiliser ingredients and trade threatens farming and food security around the world.
Death toll climbs
Iranian authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed in the Islamic Republic, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.
In Lebanon, where Israel has started an invasion in the south, officials said more than 1,100 people have been killed since the start of the war.
Meanwhile, at least 13 US troops have been reported killed, while in Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have died.
In the Gulf states, 20 people have been killed and four others in the occupied West Bank.
The UN’s International Organisation for Migration also said Friday that 82,000 civilian buildings in Iran, including hospitals and the homes of 180,000 people, were damaged.
