Houthis blockade Saudi Arabia, threat to oil supplies grows

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said on Monday they were imposing a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, opening a new front against the United States in its war with Iran and spreading a threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf.

The announcement came despite signs that Tehran and Washington are keen to resume diplomatic talks to halt an escalating cycle of attacks that has almost completely destroyed a fragile interim deal signed last month. Oil prices rose briefly after the Houthi announcement but then fell on traders' hopes that a diplomatic breakthrough could be reached.

Iran has been pressuring the Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the entrance to the Red Sea, if the United States continues to attack Iranian energy infrastructure. A complete closure of the strait would reduce global oil supplies by seven percent, as most of Saudi Arabia’s oil exports would be unable to leave the region. This would further disrupt global oil flows, which have already been cut by an amount equivalent to ten percent of global supply due to the Gulf War.

The Houthi armed forces said in a statement that, in response to what they called the "unjust and repressive siege" of Yemen imposed by Saudi Arabia, they were declaring "a naval embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, on an 'eye for an eye' basis, with immediate effect."

Saudi Arabia did not immediately react.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that Tehran had received a proposal from mediators for a 10-day ceasefire in an attempt to salvage a temporary agreement that was meant to pave the way for a permanent deal to end the war, which began on February 28 with US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said that mediators had recently delivered certain proposals to Tehran, indicating that diplomatic contacts were still ongoing.

Neither the ministry nor the official who spoke to Reuters provided further details about possible ceasefire talks.

Meanwhile, two Pakistani government sources said that Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, during his second visit to Islamabad in less than a week, asked Pakistan to once again take on a mediating role in the Iran-US conflict.

The diplomatic efforts followed another night of US strikes on Iranian cities and attacks by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on US military installations across the region.

US President Donald Trump, facing growing political pressure at home over rising fuel prices, defended the latest strikes on Iran, saying they were carried out to honor up to three US soldiers killed in recent Iranian attacks.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said two oil tankers exploded after attempting to pass through the strait via an “unsafe” route. The IRGC said on Sunday that the two ships were involved in an “incident” in the same area. It was not clear whether the two incidents were related.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the incident. The IRGC statement did not provide details about the ships or any casualties.

Separately, a vessel was hit by an unidentified missile off the coast of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz, the UK's Maritime Trade Operations Agency said. The vessel remains adrift but the crew are safe, the agency said.

US Central Command said the ninth consecutive night of strikes on Iran was aimed at "degrading" the country's ability to attack merchant ships in key shipping lanes through the strait. It did not provide further details.

In Iran, explosions were reported in Tabriz, Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Mahshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini. One person was killed and several others were wounded southwest of Tabriz, the state news agency IRNA reported.

The IRGC said it had fired ballistic missiles at US aircraft at Aqaba Airport in Jordan, as well as military facilities at Camp Al Adiri and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, and positions in Syria.

Alarm sirens sounded across Bahrain today, while the Kuwaiti military said it had again intercepted Iranian drones.

The Kuwaiti government said a water desalination plant was attacked for the second day in a row on Sunday, setting off a fire, describing it as a direct attack on key civilian infrastructure.

Desalination plants provide the bulk of drinking water in many Gulf states and supply tens of millions of people in one of the driest regions of the world.

Iran, which accused the United States on Saturday of striking one of its desalination plants, has repeatedly said it would retaliate by targeting such facilities in Gulf states. The United States has not confirmed that it attacked the Iranian desalination plant.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US will continue to target Iran as long as it attacks merchant ships in international navigation.

"As long as Iran insists on controlling an international waterway, we will have to respond. The United States always remains open to a diplomatic solution," Rubio said.

Iran's Foreign Ministry has indicated that Tehran is not ruling out a return to diplomacy, responding to a question about whether the door to talks with the US is now closed.

Confirming that Tehran had received "suggestions" from the mediators, ministry spokesman Esmail Bagei said he could not provide details. "The most important thing is that in recent days the diplomatic apparatus has been active and that ideas from individual mediators have reached us," he added.

Thousands of people have died in the conflict, mostly in Iran and Lebanon.