Houthis claim first missile launch on Israel as war in the Mideast intensifies

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed a missile launch towards Israel on Saturday, their first since the war in the Middle East started, as the world struggled to contain the economic damage of a conflict now entering its second month.

The Israeli military said it intercepted the projectile. The now monthlong war erupted after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, which retaliated with strikes against Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab states.

The conflict has upended global air travel, disrupted oil exports and caused fuel prices to soar. Iran's stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway, has exacerbated the economic fallout.

With Hormuz closed, many shipments to and from the region pass through the Omani port of Salalah, on the Arabian Sea, but Danish shipping giant Maersk said operations had been temporarily suspended after a drone attack injured one worker and damaged a crane.

Security and rescue personnel work at the impact site following Iranian missile barrages in central Israel. Reuters

The war began when the United States and Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across Iran, killing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, engulfing the Middle East in conflict and triggering global economic pain by sending oil and gas prices soaring.

With no end to the conflict in sight, despite US President Donald Trump's optimism that US forces have obliterated Iran's military, a spokesman for the Houthis issued a video statement declaring that the group had launched ballistic missiles towards Israeli bases.

A few hours earlier, the Israeli military had said it had "identified the launch of a missile from Yemen towards Israeli territory, aerial defence systems are operating to intercept the threat."

There were no reports of any casualties or damage in Israel, and the missile was reportedly intercepted.

RED SEA SHIPPING

During Israel's recent war on Gaza the Houthis, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians, attacked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. But, until Saturday, had sat out the latest conflict.

The Red Sea has become increasingly important during the new war.

Saudi Arabia has diverted a large proportion of its oil exports to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran says it has closed to shipping — driving up energy prices worldwide.

Iran's military said on Saturday that it had targeted a US logistics vessel near the Omani port of Salalah on the Arabian Sea. Oman said a drone attack on the port wounded a foreign worker.

Air travel has also been disrupted.

On Saturday, authorities in Kuwait and in the city of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan said airport facilities had been damaged in strikes. Fire also broke out after Iranian missiles and drones hit an industrial zone in the United Arab Emirates, injuring five people.

In Iran, meanwhile, production was shut down at a major steel plant in the southwest of the country after US-Israeli strikes, according to a statement from the Khuzestan Steel Company, cited by the Shargh newspaper.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have warned they will retaliate for any economic damage by striking industrial sites across the region, having earlier issued similar warnings for US military bases and hotels hosting American troops.

Israel announced fresh strikes on Tehran and an AFP journalist in the city reported around 10 intense blasts and a plume of black smoke overnight.

'COULD SOLVE IT ALL'

Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Friday he believed Iran would hold talks with Washington "this week, we're certainly hopeful for it". Washington expected Tehran to respond to a 15-point US peace plan, he told a business forum in Miami. "It could solve it all," he said.

Pakistan, which has been a go-between between US and Iranian officials, is to host foreign ministers from regional powers Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in Islamabad on Monday for talks on the crisis.

Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul had said on Friday that he expected a direct US-Iran meeting in Pakistan "very soon", without revealing his source.

Thailand on Saturday joined a handful of nations that have announced they were able to secure safe passage for their oil tankers through Hormuz with Iranian approval. Indonesia said it was in "positive talks" to secure the same exemption.

AFP / AP