US-Iran war Highlights: Houthis seize Yemen's Mocha, closing in on Bab el-Mandeb

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Iran has moved beyond a defensive posture and now “on the threshold of offensive operations”, the top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander in Tehran said, according to state-run Press TV.

“This is a turning point whose effects the enemies will soon understand,” Hassan Hassanzadeh said.

Brent oil spiked to $107 a barrel, before paring some gains, as rising tensions in the Middle East heightened concerns over global supplies.

The global benchmark extended a rally that saw futures jump to triple figures for the first time since July in the previous session. Renewed fighting over the past week has ended a period of relative calm, and the prospect of a lengthy conflict is fanning renewed fears of energy-driven inflation as prices for natural gas and diesel also surge.

Iran signaled it has no intention of backing down in the face of an American naval blockade and will escalate its strikes if the US continues attacking its territory. Meanwhile, Tehran-backed Houthis in Yemen are targeting Saudi Arabian assets, with the kingdom warning its crude production plunged last month to the lowest since 1990.

— Bloomberg

“Yemen harbours no territorial ambitions regarding any neighbouring country,” said Houthi spokesman, Mohammed Abdul Salam.

The spokesperson for Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, Mohammed Abdulsalam, said on Thursday that navigation and international trade in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb remained safe and regular, as fighting with Saudi-backed government forces intensified.

In a post on X, Abdulsalam said Yemen posed no threat to shipping and that ongoing Houthi operations were defensive and limited to previously announced targets. He said the operations would end once attacks on Yemen stopped and a blockade was lifted.

— Reuters

British police said two people had been arrested in London as part of an investigation into suspected offences under the National Security Act relating to Iran, as per Al Jazeera.

The Metropolitan Police said the probe was separate from incidents and attacks reported earlier this year at various venues and buildings associated with Jewish and Iranian communities across London.

“The investigation ⁠⁠is not ⁠⁠connected to any of the incidents ⁠⁠or attacks earlier ⁠⁠this year ⁠⁠that have been targeted at various venues and ‌‌buildings linked to Jewish ‌‌and ‌‌Iranian communities across London.”

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants have reached the Red Sea islands of Hanish after capturing the coastal city of Mocha, two Yemeni government sources said, in a major strategic shift that could threaten the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's most important shipping routes.

Fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces has intensified in recent days, with the militant group shifting its focus to control over Yemen's long coastline instead of just the north, putting them in a stronger position to disrupt maritime trade.

The group had launched attacks on Hanish, pushing government forces and their allies south to Dhubab, which sits directly on the strait across from the island of Perim, the Yemeni sources told Reuters on Thursday.

---- Reuters

The price of U.S. crude oil rose above $100 for the first time Thursday since May with no end in sight in the U.S.-Iran war. The price for Brent crude, the international standard, rose above $105 a barrel.

U.S. stock futures fell. Futures for the S&P 500 dropped 0.5%, Dow futures slipped 0.2% and futures for the Nasdaq composite fell 1.3%.

A report showed that inflation in the U.S. picked up at the wholesale level in August after cooling earlier in the summer.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank raised its key interest rate by one-quarter point to try to tame inflation in the European Union. Stock indexes in Europe fell, with Germany’s DAX down 0.6% and France's CAC-40 down 1.3%.

— AP

Pakistan has cautioned Iran against allowing Yemen-based Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, to continue attacks on Saudi Arabia, warning that the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement could be activated if strikes on Saudi territory persist.

Despite the warning, direct Pakistani military involvement in Yemen’s conflict is considered highly unlikely, according to defence policy analyst Wolfgang Pusztai, who spoke to Al Jazeera.

“We will certainly not see the deployment of Pakistani forces to Yemen. Saudi Arabia’s air force is powerful enough to handle all these air strikes that are required in Yemen,” he said.

A vessel reported being approached by an unidentified skiff 98 nautical miles southwest of Yemen's Al Mukalla on Thursday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said.

The incident comes as fighting intensifies in Yemen between the Iran-aligned Houthis and forces affiliated with the Saudi-backed government.

— Reuters

Global tanker freight rates are surging to record levels with little respite in sight, a sign of the growing strain in oil markets as traders, shipowners, producers and buyers grapple with a drawn-out conflict in the Persian Gulf and increasingly complex workarounds.

Earnings for supertankers sailing on the benchmark Middle East-to-China route are at a record of nearly $800,000 a day. Meanwhile, for the US Gulf to Asia run, charterers have been offering very large crude carriers at a record lump-sum fee of $29.5 million — close to $15 per barrel without considering additional war risks or fees for unexpected delays.

There is little sign of that momentum changing. Freight analysis from data intelligence firm Kpler suggests daily earnings for VLCCs will stay above $100,000 a day into next year, more than double historic levels that rarely went above $45,000.

“There’s quite a few bottlenecks all at the same time,” Alex Grant, Equinor ASA’s global head of crude, products and liquids trading, said on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference by S&P Global Energy in Singapore. “The market is quite stressed with all of that, and that’s showing up in the shipping rates.”

Oil markets have surged this week after attacks resumed in Hormuz, with Brent racing past $100 a barrel for the first time since July as Washington strikes Iranian tankers and Tehran fires at an airbase, Navy ships and commercial vessels. Crude is up more than 40% since the war began.

But other metrics, including freight, are reacting far more sharply with no end in sight to the US war in Iran, at a time when Houthi militants are ramping up attacks and Ukrainian strikes are crimping Russian crude and product exports. US retail diesel prices have hit a record, along with diesel margins for refiners.

Freight, as measured by the Baltic Exchange’s tanker index that looks at VLCC daily earnings across different routes, has more than doubled over the course of the war to a peak.

“If I intend to move products from A to B, I first look at the shipping market. If it doesn’t make sense, I can’t move,” Max Tay, head of Asia for heavy products at Repsol SA, said at the Singapore conference. “I’m sort of enslaved to the freight market.”

Traders and shippers congregating this week said they expected longer workarounds and inefficient modes of delivery to continue.

“The crude volume is there. What’s hampering it is the transit, what’s hampering it is the shipping,” said Manu Sehgal, vice president of strategy and feedstock supply at Indian refiner HPCL-Mittal Energy.

— Bloomberg

Pakistan said no discussions had taken place on a military response under the Mecca agreement to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. Its foreign ministry spokesperson added that Islamabad would “act” when the “time comes”.

Iran-backed Houthi militants have taken control of Yemen’s Red Sea city of Mocha, three Yemeni government sources told Reuters. The move brings the Houthis closer to the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the sources said.

Yemen's ambassador to Qatar, Rajeh Badi, accused Iran of backing renewed Houthi fighting to tighten its grip on Red Sea shipping routes. Speaking to Al Jazeera, he called it a "surprise Houthi offensive" to seize strategic ground along the Red Sea.

Iran-aligned Houthis are edging closer to gaining leverage over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, four Yemeni government military sources said, Reuters reported. The Houthis are nearing control of coastal cities including Mocha and Dhubab as they push to take over Yemen's Red Sea coast.

Iran has bought billions of dollars' worth of goods from China through a barter-like arrangement, sources said, as Tehran seeks ways to bypass sanctions and payment restrictions, Reuters reported.

The European Central Bank is expected to raise its policy rate to 2.50% from 2.25% on Thursday, its second hike this year, as the Iran war pushes oil prices above $100 a barrel and fuels inflation concerns in the euro zone.

Israeli artillery shelling targeted Wadi al-Hujeir and Wadi al-Salouqi in southern Lebanon overnight and at dawn, Al Jazeera reported citing Lebanon's National News Agency.

Saudi Arabia's Civil Defence issued and later lifted a warning over potential danger in Khamis Mushait for the second time. Authorities urged people to avoid gatherings and filming in the area.

US President Donald Trump defended the war with Iran and attacked Democrats as extremists at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas. He also pledged a $5,000 “dividend” to every adult American if Republicans retain control of Congress.