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Key takeaways
• NATO-style pact: Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a mutual defense pact that stipulates an attack against any one of them “shall be regarded as an attack against them all.” A senior Iranian official warned the pact will not guarantee Saudi Arabia’s security.
• Regional strikes: Iranian-backed proxies have been targeting Saudi Arabia, expanding the sprawling conflict. On Friday, the Houthis targeted a Saudi base in Yemen and Najran, a Saudi region near the border. Separately, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq postponed retaliatory attacks for deadly US-Saudi strikes on the country.
• US dilemma: Meanwhile, US sources told CNN that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Dan Caine, has privately made clear that the US needs to find an off-ramp from the war with Iran — because the military options on the table to escalate the conflict could backfire.
Iran displays wreckage of downed US and Israeli aircraft
Iran is showing off some of the US and Israeli aircraft it has brought down during the almost six-month war in the Persian Gulf.
State-run Press TV posted images on social media Friday of the remnants of a US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet, several drones and what appear to be the engines of an MC-130J Commando special operations aircraft.
The F-15 and MC-130 wreckage are likely from the only incident where those two types of aircraft were lost in Iran. On April 3, an F-15 was hit by anti-aircraft fire and its crew of two ejected.
Both eventually were recovered by US Special Operations forces — but during the rescue operation, two of the four-engine MC-130s got stuck on a makeshift desert airstrip and had to be destroyed.
As for the drone wreckage on display, reports say the US lost a number of the unmanned aircraft during the war, but the Pentagon has not confirmed any specifics.
The reports from Press TV did not include the location of where wreckage is displayed but it appears to be in a large underground bunker.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey sign NATO-style defense pact. Catch up on latest news
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a mutual defense agreement on Friday, as Riyadh faces escalating attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels in recent days.
The agreement, signed in Mecca, sees Saudi Arabia draw two of the Muslim world’s most formidable military powers to its defense, transforming their longstanding security ties into a collective-defense alliance. The pact stipulates that it would treat an attack on any of the countries as an attack on all – similar to NATO’s Article 5 principle.
It comes as the Houthis on Friday carried out an attack on Saudi forces at a base in eastern Yemen, according to the group’s spokesperson.
Meanwhile, US sources told CNN that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine has privately made clear that the US needs to find an off-ramp from the war with Iran — because the military options on the table to escalate the conflict could backfire.
Catch up on the day’s biggest developments here.
In Yemen:
- Escalating Houthis attacks: The group claimed responsibility for strikes in Yemen’s eastern Marib province. Earlier Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh said the shelling had killed at least two civilians and injured 14 others. In a separate attack the previous day, the group claimed responsibility for a “large-scale” operation on government military camps in two eastern provinces, reportedly killing 30 troops.
In Iraq:
- Iraqi militias postpone attacks: Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi met with Saudi’s intelligence chief Khalid bin Ali al-Humaidan on Friday to discuss security coordination and information sharing. Meanwhile, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of pro-Iran militias, delayed retaliatory attacks for deadly US-Saudi strikes on the country due to what it said was “honorable positions taken by some honorable political leaders.” On Thursday, a Saudi official told CNN that the kingdom was bracing for “multiple coordinated attacks” byHouthis and Iraqi militia.
In Iran:
- Official’s warning over defense pact: Saudi Arabia’s mutual defense pact will not guarantee the kingdom’s security, a senior Iranian official warned. “The Saudis should understand that a paper agreement with Turkey and Pakistan will not bring them security, just as decades of one-sided dependence on the Americans failed to do so,” Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on X.
- Strait of Hormuz: Iranian lawmakers are waiting for “final approval” on a proposed framework agreement with Oman for shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran’s state media. Iranian and Omani shipping routes through the waterway will remain in temporary use under an emerging agreement between the two countries before being replaced by a central course, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported on Friday.
CNN’s Abbas Al Lawati, Eyad Kourdi, Mitchell McCluskey, Aida Karimi, Sana Noor Haq and Issy Ronald contributed reporting to this post.
Iran's top diplomat praises military, calls for Muslim unity
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, praised the country’s military and called for Muslim unity in an X post Friday.
Iran’s armed forces have “shown their readiness, capability, and might” when facing the US, Araghchi said.
He also called for Muslims around the world to show unity.
“When Muslims stand together, we can face every challenge by malicious outsiders head-on,” the post read. Araghchi added: “Time to rely only on ourselves and embrace true brotherhood.”
Araghchi’s statement came after Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a mutual defense pact earlier on Friday. It was not immediately clear whether his remarks were a direct response to the pact or a broader appeal for unity among Muslim countries. The agreement was signed in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city and the birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed.
Houthis claim attack on Saudi forces in eastern Yemen
The Houthis carried out an attack on Saudi forces at a base in eastern Yemen, the armed group’s spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, claimed in a post on X on Friday.
Saree accused Saudi Arabia of continuing to “mass its forces, incite them and push them into the furnace of a futile and losing war of aggression.”
He said the Houthis targeted concentrations of Saudi forces, warehouses, vehicles and military equipment at the Sahn al-Jinn camp, a major military base located north of the center of Marib city in Yemen.
The missile and drone strikes were “precise and effective,” Saree said, adding that the Houthis will continue to “respond to escalation with escalation.”
Saudi Arabia has not publicly commented on the Houthis’ claims.
Waves of attacks from the Houthis have been targeting Saudi and Yemeni government forces in Yemen since Thursday morning.
Earlier on Friday, Yemen’s state television reported that the country’s air defenses shot down a number of drones launched by the Iran-aligned Houthis over Marib, east of Sanaa, according to Reuters.
At least two civilians were killed in Houthi strikes in the province of Marib on Friday, according to the country’s health minister.
Yemen’s Ministry of Defense also reported a deadly Houthi attack on camps and units belonging to its armed forces in Marib and Hadramout on Thursday.
Iraq hosts Saudi intelligence chief as Iran-backed militias postpone retaliatory attacks
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi met with Saudi’s intelligence chief Khalid bin Ali al-Humaidan as Iraqi militias postponed retaliatory attacks for deadly US-Saudi strikes on the country.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of pro-Iran militias, said that the delay was due to “honorable positions taken by some honorable political leaders.”
“We call on those whose pursuit of power has blinded them to the need to safeguard blood and violated sovereignty to reconsider their positions and come to their senses,” the resistance group said in a statement.
The militias also warned the US that the “fists of the loyal” would restore their sovereignty.
On Thursday, a Saudi official told CNN that the kingdom was bracing for “multiple coordinated attacks” by Iraqi militia factions and Iran-backed Houthis.
On Friday, the Iraqi leader and Saudi intelligence chief agreed to continue the “security coordination and information-sharing” between the two countries.
Al-Zaidi also reiterated the Iraqi government’s “firm position on protecting Iraq’s sovereignty and the interests of its people, and on not allowing Iraqi territory to be used as a launching point for any actions or activities targeting another country,” according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
Houthi strikes kill 2 civilians in eastern Marib province, Yemen's health minister says
At least two civilians were killed and 14 others injured in Houthi strikes on eastern Yemen Friday, according to the country’s minister, after the rebel group escalated attacks in several provinces over recent days.
The shelling of “residential neighborhoods and displacement camps” inflicted “varying wounds” upon people in the eastern Marib province, Yemen’s Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh posted on X.
The health ministry condemned the attack in a statement on Friday, warning against “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”
Yemen’s Houthis launched heavy strikes inside the country and along the border with Saudi Arabia, in a major escalation of violence between the group and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized central government.
Also on Friday, the Houthis struck the southern Saudi region of Najran, according to the Saudi-led military coalition supporting Yemen’s central government. At least 11 people were injured, the coalition said on X.
In a separate attack the previous day, the group claimed responsibility for a “large-scale” operation against government military troops in Marib and Hadhramawt, according to a post on X. Reuters reported that at least 30 Yemeni government soldiers were killed on Thursday.
Iranian lawmakers waiting for “final approval” for Hormuz deal with Oman, state media says
Iranian lawmakers are waiting for “final approval” on a proposed framework agreement with Oman for shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran’s state media.
As details of a tentative agreement started to emerge on Friday, Iran’s state-affiliated Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) said the broad framework “has more or less been agreed with Oman,” citing a spokesperson for the parliament’s National Security Commission.
However, “final approval still has to be given at higher levels,” the spokesperson said. “We have to wait, and hopefully the final outcome and the details will be announced soon.”
One fifth of global oil supplies used to travel through the strait, which Tehran has effectively shuttered after joint US-Israeli strikes sparked regional fighting in February. Iran has used it as a bargaining chip in its negotiations with the US.
Earlier this month, Iranian and Omani officials began discussions to agree a framework for commercial shipping to travel through the channel.
Under the agreement, Iranian and Omani routes will remain in use temporarily before traffic is redirected through a central course, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency said on Friday. Officials in Iran would oversee inbound traffic, while their Omani counterparts would manage outbound traffic, Fars said.
It is unclear whether Oman or the United States has acceded to the arrangement described by Fars.
CNN’s Abbas Al Lawati contributed reporting.
Why is there fighting in Yemen?
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed heavy strikes on government military camps in two eastern provinces this week, reportedly killing 30 troops.
The Houthis declared a “large scale” operation on Thursday with ballistic missiles and drones in several areas of Yemen, citing Saudi military buildups “aimed at escalating the aggression” in areas under their control. The group offered no evidence, but Reuters said at least 30 Yemeni government troops were killed by Houthi salvoes in Marib and Hadhramawt, citing government sources.
The latest attacks marked a spike in hostilities between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized central government established in 2022 to unify fragmented factions against them.
Before that, the Houthis has been at war with a Saudi-led military alliance in Yemen since 2014.
Here’s what you need to know about the fighting in Yemen:
The civil war
In 2014, the Houthis stormed the north of the country and took over the capital, Sana’a. Saudi Arabia and the UAE intervened the following year, propping up the local government and militias under a unified vision of destroying the Houthis over years of civil war.
The Houthis gained momentum at home under Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” receiving weapons and missile technology following the Arab Spring and evolving from an armed group in the 1990s into a fully-fledged, Tehran-backed player.
A shaky truce
The Saudi-led military alliance and the Houthis agreed to a truce in 2022. However, rivalries then opened up between Yemeni factions, giving way to multiple spheres of influence and handing Iran expanded leverage on the southern flank of the Arabian Peninsula.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia held an economic and air blockade on Houthi-controlled swathes of Yemen, which the group has tried to break in recent weeks.
What now?
Yemen has been marked by years of internal divisions driven by ideological differences. Recurring violence has condemned millions of people to mass displacement, political instability and hunger, according to the UN.
Last month, the agency warned food insecurity was approaching “catastrophic levels,” even before the latest resurgence in violence linked to the ongoing conflict in Iran.
CNN’s Tim Lister and Nic Robertson contributed reporting.
Iranian official warns defense pact will not guarantee Saudi Arabia’s security
Saudi Arabia’s newly-signed mutual defense pact with Pakistan and Turkey will not guarantee the kingdom’s security, a senior Iranian official warned, in the first reaction emerging from Tehran on Friday.
“The Saudis should understand that a paper agreement with Turkey and Pakistan will not bring them security, just as decades of one-sided dependence on the Americans failed to do so,” Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on X. “Change your policies so you don’t have to beg others for security.”
Earlier today, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey – three of the region’s most powerful actors – signed a NATO-like mutual defense pact, committing to defend each other if one of them is attacked.
A Turkish official told CNN that the pact is “purely defensive” and is not directed against specific actor.
But it comes at a time when Saudi Arabia faces threats on multiple fronts. A Saudi official told CNN on Thursday the kingdom was bracing for a major, coordinated assault by Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Yemen, supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
So, the agreement could serve as a warning to Tehran about the consequences of a major attack on Saudi Arabia, which would now draw in Pakistan and Turkey, dramatically widening the war.
CNN’s Gul Tuysuz and Abbas Al Lawati contributed reporting.
Saudi Arabia turns to Muslim military heavyweights as Iran war closes in
Saudi Arabia has drawn two of the Muslim world’s most formidable military powers into its defense as the Iran war moves closer to the kingdom.
Pakistan and Turkey signed a NATO-style mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia in Mecca on Friday, transforming their longstanding security ties into a collective-defense alliance. By treating an attack on one as an attack on all three, the pact could draw Pakistan and Turkey into a war they have carefully kept at arm’s length.
The pact gives Saudi Arabia a powerful new layer of protection beyond its longstanding security partnership with the United States amid growing regional doubts over whether Washington can still be relied upon to protect its oil-rich Gulf allies.
It strengthens Saudi deterrence and presents a united Sunni-led military front against a mounting Iranian threat. It also comes as Israel expands its military reach across the region and Riyadh’s relations with the neighboring United Arab Emirates fray.
Pakistan and Turkey each share a border with Iran and has strong reasons to prevent the conflict from spiraling. Pakistan must manage its sizeable Shiite population and its sensitive relationship with Tehran, while Turkey and Iran share concerns over Kurdish separatism despite competing elsewhere in the region.
Tehran repeatedly struck targets in Saudi Arabia during the war, including civilian infrastructure, energy facilities and US interests. Direct Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia largely subsided after an April 8 ceasefire took hold, but Iran-backed groups in Yemen and Iraq continued targeting the kingdom.
Riyadh has been one of the war’s most vocal opponents and has worked to restrain US President Donald Trump from escalating against the Islamic Republic. Yet the attacks Saudi Arabia continues to face from multiple fronts have left officials increasingly alarmed and frustrated.
A Saudi official told CNN on Thursday that the kingdom was bracing for a major, coordinated assault by Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Yemen, supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. CNN has also reported that Tehran warned Gulf nations that renewed US attacks would trigger retaliation against energy or desalination facilities across the region.
The treaty signed in Mecca on Friday therefore serves as a warning to Tehran: another major attack on Saudi Arabia could invoke the pact, draw Pakistan and Turkey into the conflict and dramatically widen the war.
As Iran's proxies are drawn into wider war, regional leaders firm up defense. What to know
Months of fighting between Tehran and Washington spilled into the wider region over the past couple days, as Iranian proxies launched fierce salvoes in Yemen — marking a major escalation of violence.
On Friday, a Saudi official told CNN the Gulf nation was braced for “multiple coordinated attacks” by the Iran-backed Houthis and Iraqi militias. That same day, the Houthis launched a flurry of attacks that reportedly killed and wounded dozens near the Yemen-Saudi border – sparking condemnation from Jordanian, Bahraini and Kuwaiti authorities.
Elsewhere, senior leadership from Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia signed a landmark defense agreement in the Islamic holy city of Mecca, as regional strikes flare.
Here’s what you need to know:
In Iran
- Strait of Hormuz: Iranian and Omani shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz will remain in temporary use under an emerging agreement between the two countries before being replaced by a central course, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported on Friday.
- Draft law: Iranian lawmakers drafted a separate bill to regulate maritime traffic through the Strait on Friday, according to Fars News Agency. The proposal stated that military or civilian cargo linked to Israeli vessels and other entities deemed to have damaged Iran would be banned from crossing until paying compensation.
In Yemen
- Major attack in Najran: On Friday, the Houthis struck the southern Saudi border region of Najran, according to the Saudi-led military coalition supporting Yemen’s central government. At least 11 people were injured, the coalition said on X, including a 4-year-old child faced with second-degree burns.
- Specter of wider war: A day prior, the rebel group claimed to have inflicted a “large scale” military operation targeting Saudi troops with ballistic missiles and drones in several areas of the country. Reuters reported that 30 Yemeni government troops were killed in Houthi attacks on military camps in country’s east.
In Saudi Arabia
- Trilateral defense pact: Turkish, Pakistani and Saudi leaders signed a NATO-style defense pact on Friday that would compel each country to intervene if another is attacked, according to Pakistan’s foreign ministry. The deal emerged after a meeting between Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Mecca.
CNN’s Aida Karimi, Nadeen Ebrahim, Tim Lister, Ibrahim Dahman, Sophie Tanno, Nic Robertson, Sophia Saifi and Hira Humayun contributed reporting.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey agree to NATO-style mutual defense pact
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have signed a mutual defense pact that stipulates an attack against any of them “shall be regarded as an attack against them all.”
The agreement between the three US allies comes as Saudi Arabia faces threats on multiple fronts and would compel each country to intervene if another is attacked, much like the pact between NATO nations.
It is “intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression” and “further provides for the enhancement of all aspects of defence cooperation among the three states,” the three countries said in a joint statement.
The agreement was signed in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city and the birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed, imbuing it with political and religious symbolism.
As well as being home to Islam’s holiest sites, Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s top oil exporters. Pakistan is the only nuclear-armed Muslim nation.
The agreement came after a meeting between Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
It is “guided by the longstanding historical ties among the three states, based on the enduring bonds of brotherhood and Islamic solidarity that unite them, and building upon their shared strategic interests and longstanding defense cooperation,” the statement added.
This post has been corrected to identify Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Turkey’s president.
Oil holds onto yesterday's gains on caution over Strait of Hormuz reopening
Global oil prices steadied in early trade, holding onto gains of around 4% made yesterday after reports that Iran was drafting a bill to ban “hostile” vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were down 0.4% at $82 a barrel at 6.20 a.m. ET while WTI futures, the US benchmark, ticked 0.1% lower to $77 a barrel.
Oil prices tumbled at the start of the week on optimism that a deal to reopen the strait could be imminent. But they reversed course yesterday as traders assessed that a deal on the strait between Iran and Oman — which has moved closer — was unlikely to satisfy Washington or to return navigation through the waterway to its pre-war state.
In addition, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported that Iranian lawmakers had drafted a bill that would ban military or civilian cargo linked to countries judged to have inflicted damage on Iran from crossing the strait unless compensation was paid.
Fears that US and Israeli ships could be ultimately barred from the strait, further disrupting global trade, had caused oil prices to rise, according to Deutsche Bank analysts.
“While prohibition of US-owned vessels might have a negligible practical impact, the US has been resistant to an outcome that would fall short of free movement through Hormuz,” they wrote in a note.
Aida Karimi and Sophie Tanno contributed reporting
Major escalation as spate of Houthi attacks kill and wound dozens in Yemen
A flurry of attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels over the last 24 hours have reportedly killed and wounded dozens – a major escalation in a region split between parties backed by Tehran and Washington.
One of Tehran’s strongest allies, the Houthis entered the Middle East conflict in March by firing missiles towards Israel. Today, the group is boldly engaging in exchanged strikes with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, and firing directly at an old foe that is backed by the United States – Saudi Arabia.
- On Thursday, the rebel group claimed to have carried out a “large-scale” military operation targeting Saudi troops with ballistic missiles and drones in several areas of the country. The Houthis offered no evidence for the claim, but Reuters had reported earlier the same day that at least 30 Yemeni government troops were killed in Houthi attacks on military camps in the provinces of Marib and Hadhramawt, citing government sources.
- Early on Friday, the Saudi-led military coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognized government said that 11 civilians were wounded in a Houthi attack on the southern Saudi border region of Najran. Seven were Saudi nationals, the coalition said on X, including a woman and a 4-year-old child who sustained second-degree burns.
- Later on Friday, Yemen’s internationally recognized government said that the Houthis were targeting the city of Marib — a key city in central Yemen held by the government — with missiles and drones.
These attacks raise the threat of another outbreak of a full-scale civil war. The last war, which began in 2014, left Yemen facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Iran, Oman routes to remain open temporarily under proposed Hormuz deal, Fars says
Iranian and Omani shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz will remain in use temporarily under an emerging agreement between the two countries before being replaced by a central route, Iran’s state-linked Fars news agency reported, citing an “informed source.”
Inbound traffic would be managed by Iran, while outbound traffic would be managed jointly by Iran and Oman, according to Fars.
Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz after the United States and Israel attacked the country in February. Tehran later required vessels seeking passage to obtain its approval and sail close to the Iranian coast, while warning them against using a US-backed corridor on the Omani side. Iranian forces fired at several ships using that corridor, prompting Washington to resume strikes on Iran.
Washington, meanwhile, warned shipping companies that using the Iranian-controlled route could expose them to sanctions if they paid Iranian passage fees, provided sensitive vessel information or dealt with sanctioned entities.
If confirmed, the arrangement described by Fars would temporarily allow both the Iranian-controlled and US-backed Omani routes to operate, before traffic is redirected through a central lane.
It remains unclear whether Oman or the United States has agreed to the arrangement described by Fars.
Pakistani, Turkish leaders head to Saudi for an expected joint defense deal
Senior leadership from Pakistan and Turkey departed for Saudi Arabia this week, where they are expected to sign a trilateral defense deal as regional violence flares.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the Army Chief Asim Munir and the Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar arrived in the coastal city of Jeddah on Thursday, according to a readout from the prime minister’s office.
The Pakistani delegation was “warmly welcomed” by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the readout said.
Saudi and Pakistani officials are expected to share “an exchange of views on further strengthening the longstanding fraternal relations and partnership” as well as “the situation in the region,” the readout added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also left Friday for a one-day visit to Saudi Arabia, where he is expected to meet with MBS and the Pakistani prime minister, according to Turkey’s state media Anadolu Agency.
If signed, the defense pact will be a landmark deal among three nations that have all played a role in stalled diplomatic efforts to end hostilities between the US and Iran. It comes nearly a year after Islamabad and Riyadh formed a mutual defense pact in a move that strengthened a decades-long security partnership.
Regional conflagration: That same day, a Saudi official told CNN that Riyadh was bracing for “multiple coordinated attacks” by Iraqi militias and Iran-backed Houthis, adding that Gulf officials “will take all necessary measures to deal with any aggression.”
Who are the Houthis?
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis represent the country’s Shia Muslim minority, the Zaidis, and are formally known as Ansar Allah – “Partisans of God.”
They emerged as an armed group in the 1990s and fought a series of rebellions against Yemen’s central government over two decades.
After the Arab Spring in 2011, they seized a northern province and later the capital Sanaa, which they still hold, along with most of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline. In the process they became part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” across the region, receiving weapons and missile technology.
Tehran has provided the group with sea mines, ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones), according to a 2021 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
After Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza began in October 2023, the Houthis launched missiles against Israel and began targeting shipping in the Red Sea. Israel responded with strikes on Houthi infrastructure and killed a number of senior Houthi officials.
Amid the US-Iran war, the militant group carried out coordinated attacks in the south of Saudi Arabia with Iraqi militias on Thursday, injuring 11 civilians, and two attacks were also reported near the Red Sea’s Bab al-Mandeb Strait this week. Although the Houthis did not claim responsibility for the attack, they have repeatedly threatened to disrupt shipping through the strait.
Saudi Arabia led a military coalition that intervened against the Houthis in Yemen in 2015 but failed to dislodge the group from the country’s north. The seven-year conflict helped create one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
CNN’s Lex Harvey, Nic Robertson, Hira Humayun and Mustafa Qadri contributed to this report.
Iranian lawmakers draft law to bar "hostile" vessels from Strait of Hormuz
Iranian lawmakers have drafted a bill to regulate traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, including restrictions on certain vessels and penalties for violators, according to Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency.
The bill, which is currently under review by the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Commission, is an initiative separate from talks with Oman on commercial shipping through the strait.
Under the original version of the bill, it stipulated that ships from the US, Israel and other countries Iran considers hostile would be barred from the waterway. The latest version encompasses a broader scope, stating that military or civilian cargo linked to Israeli vessels and other countries and entities deemed to have caused damage to Iran would also be barred from transiting until compensation is paid, Fars reported.
Violations of the restrictions will carry fines of up to 20% of the value of the vessel’s cargo, Fars added.
For vessels that are allowed to transit the strait, the Iranian government will charge navigation service fees, payable in Iranian currency, to cover the costs of safe navigation, it reported.
Remember: The effort to draft this bill was first announced in March by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency. The following month, a draft was released that targeted vessels from countries considered hostile to Iran, with the possibility of exemptions. The latest version of the bill expands the proposed restrictions to more vessels and also covers cargo.
CNN’s Hira Humayun contributed reporting.
Reports of low US munitions stockpile may "embolden" Iran, CNN analyst says
Iran could become “emboldened” by reports of depleted US munitions stockpile, according to a CNN national security analyst on Friday.
The reports that the US military has used up nearly 80% of its interceptors for a key missile defense system could signal the US’s vulnerability to Tehran, said Alex Plitsas, who is also director of the counterterrorism program at the Atlantic Council.
Plitsas described the reports as “a politically motivated leak” and they put the US in a “very precarious situation at the moment.”
US President Donald Trump has pushed back on the reports, claiming the US has “massive amounts” of munitions but acknowledging some weapons supplies are “tighter.” He also said defense companies are “building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history.”
“But the problem is, that takes some time to build out,” said Plitsas. “And so in the short term, that still leaves a production capacity gap, and the need to backfill those munitions.”
There has been a “pattern of expanding aggression and hostility by the Iranians,” as Saudi Arabia braces for attacks by Iraqi militias factions and Iran-backed Houthis, Plitsas added.
“The message from the Iranians is clear… if you go after the Houthis in Yemen, we’re going to respond not only for Yemen, but you’re going to have a two-front war. You’re going to have to deal with the Iraqi militias,” he said.
“And I believe that emboldenment comes in part because they believe US stockpiles are low and they’ll have a hard time defending against that.”
