Middle East crisis Iran war

Analysis: The Houthi missile is bad news for Trump

It is really bad news for Donald Trump that the Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Saturday joined the war by firing a missile at Israel. This is according to TV4 Nyheter's Johan Fredriksson. He points out, among other things, that the Houthis - who have not joined the Iran war until today - have previously attacked merchant ships in the Red Sea.

- The Houthis have significant military muscle and can seriously disrupt shipping in the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal, he says.

Sean Bell on Sky News is on the same track. Even if Israel managed to shoot down the missile, Saturday's developments represent a "major escalation."

The fact that a new front is now opening in the war means more problems for the American president, who is already looking for ways to withdraw from the war, he says.

- It is a new front and it widens the conflict in the region.

Alexander Smith writes in NBC News that there are no signs that the war is coming to an end. The attacks and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have serious consequences.

"The world is facing price increases and perhaps also shortages of energy and food, and that applies even if the conflict were to end tomorrow."

Sources: US has destroyed a third of Iran's missiles

One of Donald Trump's goals in the war against Iran is to knock out the country's missile capacity. But the US military can only say with certainty that a third of the missiles have been destroyed, five sources told Reuters.

Another third is difficult to assess, but is believed to be buried, damaged or destroyed.

The same applies to Iran's drone capacity, a third is estimated to be destroyed, according to one of the sources.

This contrasts with President Trump's statement on Thursday that Iran has "very few missiles left."

Zelensky: Russian satellites photographed the base days before Iran's attack

Russian satellites photographed the Saudi Prince Sultan air base just days before the Iranian attack that injured twelve American soldiers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram.

According to him, Ukraine has intelligence that Russia has mapped several bases and energy facilities in the Middle East over the past week. Among them are the British-American base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and Kuwait International Airport, which was attacked earlier on Saturday.

Diego Garcia was also attacked earlier in March, but the Iranian missiles that were sent did not reach it.

Yesterday's attack on the Prince Sultan base injured twelve American soldiers, two of them seriously. Several aircraft were also damaged, including tanker aircraft and the high-tech E-3 Sentry, writes the Wall Street Journal. The E-3 Sentry is an airborne combat command center that can detect drones, missiles and other objects from tens of miles away.

“It’s a big deal. It impairs the United States’ ability to see what’s happening around the Persian Gulf and maintain a situational awareness,” former Air Force Colonel John Venable told the WSJ.