Western trade route at risk as Houthis escalate attacks on Israel

Iranian forces are ‘waiting’ for a US ground invasion, the country’s speaker in Parliament has said.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf claimed on Sunday Donald Trump is preparing for an attack in secret, despite speaking of negotiations in public.

He said in comments reported by Iranian media that ‘the enemy signals negotiation in public, while in secret it plots a ground attack’.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have entered the conflict in the Middle East and launched a missile attack on Israel.

The terror group’s strike raises the prospects of a broader regional confrontation, as well as an increased threat to shipping in the region.

The group said the attack with a barrage of missiles came after continued targeting of infrastructure in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories, adding that their operations would continue until the ‘aggression’ on all fronts ends.

On Friday, Brig Gen Saree, a military spokesman for the Houthis, said the rebels could join the war on behalf of Iran if attacks on the country did not cease.

‘We affirm that our fingers are on the trigger for direct military intervention in any of the following cases,’ Saree said.

Top diplomats from key regional powers have gathered in Pakistan today to discuss how to end the fighting in the Middle East.

However, there were few signs of progress as Israel and the US kept up strikes on Iran, and Tehran responded by firing missiles and drones across the region.

Pakistan said foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt were participating in the talks in Islamabad.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held ‘extensive discussions’ on regional hostilities.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence has said it has intercepted and destroyed 10 drones in the past few hours.

Other countries across the Gulf – including the UAE and Kuwait – have also reported strikes on key infrastructure overnight.

The internet blackout in Iran has now entered its fifth week, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks.

Connectivity to the outside world remains at just one per cent of ordinary levels.

Qatari news channel Al Araby has said its office in Tehran has been damaged after an Israeli missile hit the building.

The channel said in a post on X:

An Israeli missile targets the Al Araby TV channel building in the capital, Tehran… extensive damage and the suspension of live broadcastinge channel said in a post on X.

Footage from inside the office showed broken windows, shattered glass and debris. Outside the building, images showed the streets covered in debris along with damage to surrounding buildings.

The Pentagon is gearing up for ground operations in Iran which could last several weeks, officials revealed, as thousands of US Marines pour into the Middle East.

Defense chiefs are bracing for what insiders describe as a ‘major escalation,’ though any military action is expected to stop short of an all-out invasion, sources told The Washington Post.

Instead they will use Special Operations forces backed by infantry troops, the insiders said. It remains unclear if President Donald Trump has or will approve the Pentagon’s reported plans.

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Egypt has ordered all shops and restaurants to close at 9pm in an effort to conserve energy due to the war in the Middle East.

Pictures show streets across the country plunged into darkness as the new rules came into effect.

Talks are to be held in Pakistan aimed at de-escalating the conflict in the Middle East.

The foreign minister of Saudi Arabia will join his Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish counterparts in Islamabad.

The talks are expected to take place today and tomorrow.

Iran and the United States will not be involved.

Oman’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that it condemns attacks on its territory, adding that no party has claimed responsibility.

It said authorities were investigating the attacks’ ‘sources and motives’ without providing further details or specifying any specific attack.

Oman said on Saturday that a worker was injured in a drone attack on the Gulf country’s Salalah port and Danish container shipping group Maersk said later that it temporarily halted its operations at the port after Saturday’s attack.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday that they targeted a U.S. support vessel at a ‘considerable’ distance from Salalah port, Iranian media reported.

‘As we have previously stated, the national sovereignty of our brotherly and friendly country Oman is respected by the Islamic Republic of Iran,’ it added.

On March 11, drones struck oil storage facilities at Salalah port.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Oman’s sultan in a phone call that the incident would be investigated.

The US Central Command said the warship USS Tripoli has arrived in the region.

The ship carries around 3,500 sailors and marines, along with transport, strike fighter aircraft and assault and tactical assets.

CENTCOM said they arrived in the ‘area of responsibility’ on Friday.

It came as the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran – however, it said it’s unclear if they will be approved by President Donald Trump.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio told reporters on Friday that the war will end in weeks, not months, and the US doesn’t need boots on the ground to win the war.

Seafarers’ helplines are overwhelmed with calls from sea crews stuck in the Gulf by the war in Iran, the Guardian reported.

‘Writing to urgently inform you that our vessel is currently facing a critical situation regarding provisions and one crew health conditions,’ one crew member wrote on March 24.

‘Immediate supply of food, drinking water, basic necessities is required to sustain the crew.’

The International Transport Workers’ Federation Seafarer Support team has received more than 1,000 emails and messages from crews stuck at sea, waiting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and the surrounding region, according to the outlet.