Middle East Crisis

Iran War
Experts: Russia and China See US Arms Shortage

A six-month war with Iran has depleted large parts of the US arms stockpile – and it is being noticed in Moscow and Beijing, experts tell the New York Times.

Many of the advanced weapons the US has used in the war require a number of special components and take years to manufacture.

– It is impossible for this not to affect China’s and Russia’s decision-making, says Tom Karako of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The US has moved large military resources from Europe and Asia to the Middle East. In Europe, this is noticeable, to Russia’s delight, in Ukraine’s lack of air defense missiles.

Many important long-range weapons have been moved from Asia, where the US has long been preparing for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

The White House dismisses all reports of arms shortages and says the US has the military resources to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants. 

Strait of Hormuz
Negotiations continue – and ship attacks

Both Iran and Oman are speaking positively about the negotiations on the Strait of Hormuz. At the same time, ship attacks continue, several media outlets report.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that an agreement is "very close", but that reopening the strait depends on other factors – including compensation from the United States, writes Reuters.

Oman's Foreign Ministry calls the talks "positive and constructive", but at the same time condemns "repeated attacks on ships in the strait" without mentioning Iran by name, according to AFP.

Earlier on Saturday, authorities in the United Arab Emirates stated that a ship from the state oil company Adnoc had been hit by an Iranian missile, writes AP.

Houthi rebels
Full-scale civil war threatens Yemen again

On Saturday, Yemen's army struck back against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels after several days of attacks. Now the 2022 ceasefire is at risk of collapsing and full-scale civil war breaking out again, several media outlets report.

On Thursday, the Houthis attacked military targets in the provinces of Marib and Hadramout, killing at least 17 soldiers, according to the New York Times. Yesterday, residential areas and refugee camps in Marib were attacked with ballistic missiles and drones, killing two and wounding 14, according to Reuters.

Today, the army announced that it had launched a counteroffensive in several places, but did not provide further details.

The risk of a new full-scale war is now greater than it has been at any time in the past four years, according to the UN's Yemen envoy Hans Grundberg.