Middle East war: Latest developments

Houthis claim Israel attack

Yemen's Houthis on Wednesday claimed a missile attack against Israel that they said was launched jointly with their backer Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah group the third such attack by the rebels since they entered the Middle East war.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israel's military said its air defenses had responded to a missile launched from Yemen, later announcing that residents were "permitted to leave protected spaces in all areas of the country." Israeli media said the missile was intercepted, and there were no reports of any casualties or damage.

The Houthis "carried out the third military operation... targeting sensitive Israeli enemy targets... with a barrage of ballistic missiles," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement. "This operation was conducted jointly with our mujahideen brothers in Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon," he added.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed missile and drone attacks targeting Israel over the weekend, their first in the current war.

The Israeli military also said on Monday that two drones launched from Yemen were intercepted.

From Yemen, the Houthis could potentially disrupt shipping through the Red Sea, as they did at the height of Israel's war on Gaza. The Houthis have previously threatened shipping through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, which requires vessels to travel through a narrow strait off Yemen's coast.

Khamenei ‘confident’ that Naim Qassem will be able to ‘thwart Israel’s plans’

Iran's new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, sent a message yesterday evening to Hezbollah's Secretary-General, Naim Qassem, in which he expressed confidence that he would be able to “thwart the plans” of Israel, which has been bombing Lebanon and invading its South relentlessly since March 2.

In his message, Khamenei noted that Qassem is leading the party at “a pivotal moment in the history of the resistance” against Israel. He nevertheless expressed his “confidence” in Qassem’s “wisdom, intelligence, and courage” to “thwart the plans” of Israel and “restore pride and prosperity to the Lebanese people.”

14 Israelis wounded

Israel's emergency medical service said 14 people, including an 11-year-old girl, were wounded by a missile attack in central Israel that the military blamed on Iran.

Missile alerts sounded across central and northern Israel after the military issued warnings for incoming fire.

Katz says Israel will occupy part of southern Lebanon after the war

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed Tuesday that the Israeli army will continue to occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, about 30 kilometers north of the border, after the ongoing war and Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, during which all homes in border villages are expected to be demolished.

In a video released by his office, Katz said that following the “operations” in southern Lebanon, the army will remain deployed in a “security zone to defend against anti-tank missiles and maintain control of the area south of the Litani River.”

Iran steel plant hit

US-Israeli strikes have hit steel plants in central and southwest Iran, causing damage to production units, Iranian media reported.

The Mobarakeh Steel Company complex in the central province of Isfahan, one of Iran's biggest, sustained "significant damage and destruction," with other sites in the southwestern Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province also hit, the Fars news agency said.

Strikes near ex-US Tehran embassy

Strikes hit an area near the former U.S. embassy in Tehran, damaging some of the building's walls, an AFP journalist reported.

The wall of the site of the 1979 hostage crisis, since transformed into a museum known as the "Den of Spies" was damaged.

Trump to address the nation on Wednesday evening

U.S. President Donald Trump will address the nation on Wednesday evening regarding Iran, the White House spokesperson announced on Tuesday on X: “Tomorrow evening at 9 pm local time [1 am GMT on Thursday], President Trump will address the nation to provide important new information on Iran,” wrote Karoline Leavitt.

Trump says the US will ‘leave’ Iran ‘very soon’

Donald Trump has stated that the U.S. will "leave" Iran "very soon," within two or three weeks. “All I have to do is leave Iran and we will do so very soon and they will collapse,” said the U.S. president in response to a question about the price of petrol at $4. He then mentioned a time-frame of “two, maybe three weeks.”

UK to host Hormuz meeting

Britain is planning to host a meeting of about 35 countries this week to discuss how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital thoroughfare for much of the world's seaborne oil and gas, UK leader Keir Starmer announced.

Australia PM warns of tough months

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned the months ahead "may not be easy" because of the Middle East war, in a rare nationwide address.

"No government can promise to eliminate the pressures that this war is causing," Albanese said.

Kuwait bank shuts doors, airport remains closed

A major Kuwaiti bank said it will close its headquarters for two days starting Wednesday, as Iran carries out daily strikes on the Gulf more than one month into the Middle East war.

Meanwhile, attack drones “launched by Iran and the armed factions it supports” targeted fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport, causing a fire, the state news agency Kuna reported on Wednesday, citing the civil aviation authority.

Bahrain’s Ministry of the Interior, meanwhile, stated on X that “the Civil Defense is working to extinguish a fire that broke out on the premises of a company following the Iranian attack."

Crude drops, Europe stocks rise

Oil prices tumbled and European stocks rose after U.S. President Donald Trump said the war with Iran could end within weeks.

International benchmark Brent North Sea crude fell five percent to $98.77 a barrel, and the main U.S. oil contract WTI dropped around four percent to $97.28 a barrel.

The Frankfurt and Paris stock markets jumped more than two percent at the open, while London's FTSE 100 index gained 1.7 percent.

Iran denies US negotiations

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there were no negotiations with the United States and that Tehran had not responded to a reported 15-point proposal from Washington to end the war.

"There are no grounds for negotiations," Araghchi said in an interview with Al Jazeera and dubbed into Arabic from Persian. He added however that some messages had been exchanged directly with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Bangladeshi killed in UAE

A Bangladeshi national was killed by falling shrapnel after a drone interception in the United Arab Emirates, near the Strait of Hormuz in Fujairah, the official WAM news agency said.

Attacks on the Gulf

Kuwait international airport came under an Iranian drone attack that led to "a large fire" at a fuel depot, the civil aviation authority said.

Bahrain's interior ministry said a fire broke out at a business facility "as a result of the Iranian aggression," while Saudi Arabia said it shot down several drones.

A tanker was also hit off Qatar, a British maritime security agency said.

Kidnapping of an American journalist in Iraq

An American journalist has been kidnapped in Iraq by a suspected pro-Iranian group, Washington has announced. “An individual with links to the Kataeb Hezbollah group, an ally of Iran and suspected of involvement in the kidnapping, has been arrested by the Iraqi authorities,” Dylan Johnson, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, wrote on X.