ISIS has claimed responsibility for the bomb attack in Iran which left 103 dead at the memorial parade for infamous Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
The terror group identified two suicide bombers who carried out the blasts amid high Middle East tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.
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ISIS has claimed responsibility for the two bomb attacks which left 103 deadCredit: AP
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Two blasts struck crowds as they gathered to mark Soleimani’s deathCredit: EPA
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There are reportedly 181 wounded people with some in critical conditionCredit: AP
In a statement on Telegram, the group said two of its members “activated their explosives vests” at a gathering near the grave in the southern city of Kerman of slain Revolutionary Guards general Qasem Soleimani.
The terrorists responsible for the attack are named as Omar al-Muwahid and Sayfullah al-Mujahid.
The state TV reported 181 wounded with some in critical condition.
Among those killed were three paramedics who rushed to the scene after the first explosion, said Iran‘s Red Crescent.
Online footage showed panicked crowds scrambling to flee as security personnel cordoned off the area.
State television showed bloodied victims lying on the ground and ambulances and rescue personnel racing to help them.
“We were walking towards the cemetery when a car suddenly stopped behind us and a waste bin containing a bomb exploded,” an eyewitness was quoted saying by the ISNA news agency.
“We only heard the explosion and saw people falling.”
President Ebrahim Raisi condemned the “heinous” crime as the Islamic Republic of Iran declared Thursday a national day of mourning.
Iran’s political deputy, Mohammad Jamshidi, blamed the parade bombings in Iran on both the US and Israel.
However, the US dismissed any suggestions that Washington and Israel were involved.
Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued a statement on Wednesday, saying: “”Cruel criminals must know that they will be strongly dealt with from now on and undoubtedly there will be a harsh response.”
Wednesday’s incident comes amid the rise of tension in the Middle-east following more attacks on Lebanon.
Two explosions minutes apart Wednesday in Iran targeted a commemoration for a prominent general slain in a U.S. drone strike in 2020, killing at least 103 people and wounding at least 141 others as the Middle East remains on edge over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for what Iranian state media called a “terroristic” attack shortly after the blasts in Kerman, about 510 miles southeast of the capital, Tehran.
While Israel has carried out attacks in Iran over its nuclear program, it has conducted targeted assassinations, not mass-casualty bombings. Sunni extremist groups including the Islamic State (ISIS) group have conducted large-scale attacks in the past that killed civilians in Shiite-majority Iran, though not in relatively peaceful Kerman.
Iran also has seen mass protests in recent years, including those over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 2022. The country also has been targeted by exile groups in attacks dating back to the turmoil surrounding its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The blasts struck an event marking the fourth anniversary of the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, who died in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in January 2020. The explosions occurred near his gravesite in Kerman.
Iranian emergency services arrive at the site where two explosions in quick succession struck a crowd marking the anniversary of the 2020 killing of General Qasem Soleimani on Jan. 3, 2024.
MEHR NEWS/AFP via Getty Images
Iranian state television quoted Babak Yektaparast, a spokesman for the country’s emergency services, for the casualty figure. Authorities said some people were injured while fleeing afterward.
Footage suggested that the second blast occurred some 15 minutes after the first. A delayed second explosion is often used by militants to target emergency personnel responding to the scene and inflict more casualties.
People could be heard screaming in state TV footage.
Kerman’s deputy governor, Rahman Jalali, called the attack “terroristic,” without elaborating. Iran has multiple foes who could be behind the assault, including exile groups, militant organizations and state actors. Iran has supported Hamas as well as the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
At a briefing Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said it was too early to say who or what might have caused the blasts, but he stressed, “The United States was not involved in any way, and any suggestion to the contrary is ridiculous.”
He also said, “We have no information to believe that Israel was involved in this explosion.”
A senior administration official, asked if the U.S. had assessed who’s responsible for the Iran bombing, told reporters, “It does look like a terrorist attack, the type of thing we’ve seen ISIS do in the past.”
Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s regional military activities and is hailed as a national icon among supporters of Iran’s theocracy. He also helped secure Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government after the 2011 Arab Spring protests against him turned into a civil, and later a regional, war that still rages today.
Relatively unknown in Iran until the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Soleimani’s popularity and mystique grew after American officials called for his killing over his help arming militants with penetrating roadside bombs that killed and maimed U.S. troops.
A decade and a half later, Soleimani had become Iran’s most recognizable battlefield commander, ignoring calls to enter politics but growing as powerful, if not more, than its civilian leadership.
Ultimately, a drone strike launched by the Trump administration killed the general, part of escalating incidents that followed America’s 2018 unilateral withdrawal from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Soleimani’s death has drawn large processions in the past. At his funeral in 2020, a stampede broke out in Kerman and at least 56 people were killed and more than 200 were injured as thousands thronged the procession. Otherwise, Kerman largely has been untouched in the recent unrest and attacks that have struck Iran. The city and province of the same name sits in Iran’s central desert plateau.
–Olivia Gazis contributed reporting from the State Department.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at Israel on Saturday in retaliation for the targeted killing of a Hamas leader in Beirut this week amid mounting fears of a larger regional war, according to media reports.
Hezbollah said in a statement Saturday that it targeted an Israeli air surveillance base in northern Israel with 62 missiles as an “initial response” to the suspected Israeli strike on January 2 that killed senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut. The Israeli military said around 40 rockets were fired from Lebanon at its territory.
Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, said earlier this week that the killing of al-Arouri will “not go unpunished.”
Israel’s military said it responded to the Hezbollah rocket attacks with a drone strike on “the terrorist cell responsible for the launches toward the area of Metula.”
The escalation comes as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has embarked on his fourth diplomatic tour of the Middle East as the Israel-Hamas war reaches its three-month mark and amid growing international criticism of Israel’s strategy. Yemen’s Houthi militants have also increased their attacks on cargo ships and fuel tankers in the Red Sea.
Blinken met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Saturday. U.S. officials said Blinken was seeking Turkish buy-in, or at least consideration, of potential monetary or in-kind contributions to reconstruction efforts and some form of participation in a proposed multi-national force that could operate in or adjacent to the territory, the Associated Press reported.
Turkey has been harshly critical of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the prosecution of the war and the impact it has had on Palestinian civilians.
In addition, officials said, Blinken will stress the importance Washington places on Ankara ratifying Sweden’s membership in NATO, a long-delayed process that the Turks have said they will complete soon. Sweden’s accession to the defense alliance is seen as one critical response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who was in Lebanon on Saturday, warned that it was imperative to avoid the Israel-Hamas war growing into a regional conflict.
Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, some of whom have been released.
Israel has for the last three months bombed the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, resulting in nearly 23,000 people dying and around 59,000 others being injured, according to the Palestinian enclave’s health authorities.
In another warning, the United Nations’ humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said on Friday that Gaza has become “uninhabitable” for its nearly 2.3 million inhabitants and repeated that “a public health disaster is unfolding” in the enclave.
More than 100 people were killed and dozens more injured in Iran after two explosions went off near the tomb of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani on Wednesday, according to local media reports.
Iran’s state media reported that at least two explosions occurred in the cemetery in the city of Kerman, where hundreds of people were commemorating Soleimani’s death four years ago. The feared general led Iran’s paramilitary Quds force before being killed by a U.S. drone strike in January 2020.
According to Iranian state news agency IRNA, 103 people died and around 140 injured people were taken to hospitals.
Officials are investigating the cause of the explosions. IRNA reported that Iranian authorities believe it was a terrorist attack, citing Kerman’s deputy governor for security, Rahman Jalali.
The first blast went off 700 meters away from Soleimani’s tomb, while the second explosion happened minutes later about one kilometer away from the grave.
Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in a televised interview Wednesday afternoon that the situation in Kerman was “normal and everything is under the control of the security and law enforcement forces.
“This act of terrorism will lead to a powerful and overwhelming response from the security and military forces in the shortest time,” he added.
As head of the Quds force, a unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps which is behind much of the country’s military actions outside its borders, Soleimani was a hugely popular figure in Iran.
His assassination in 2020, ordered by then-U.S. President Donald Trump, escalated tensions between America and Iran, leading to a series of regional retaliatory actions from Tehran.
In a statement, the EU said it “condemns in the strongest terms today’s bombing in the city of Kerman in Iran. The EU expresses its solidarity with the Iranian people. This act of terror has exacted a shocking toll of civilian deaths and injuries.”
On October 7, Hamas fighters launched a bloody attack against Israel, using paragliders, speedboats and underground tunnels to carry out an offensive that killed almost 1,200 people and saw hundreds more taken back to the Gaza Strip as prisoners.
Almost three months on, Israel’s massive military retaliation is reverberating around the region, with explosions in Lebanon and rebels from Yemen attacking shipping in the Red Sea. Meanwhile, Western countries are pumping military aid into Israel while deploying fleets to protect commercial shipping — risking confrontation with the Iranian navy.
That’s in line with a grim prediction made last year by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who said that Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza meant an “expansion of the scope of the war has become inevitable,” and that further escalation across the Middle East should be expected.
What’s happening?
The Israel Defense Forces are still fighting fierce battles for control of the Gaza Strip in what officials say is a mission to destroy Hamas. Troops have already occupied much of the north of the 365-square-kilometer territory, home to around 2.3 million Palestinians, and are now stepping up their assault in the south.
Entire neighborhoods of densely-populated Gaza City have been levelled by intense Israeli shelling, rocket attacks and air strikes, rendering them uninhabitable. Although independent observers have been largely shut out, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry claims more than 22,300 people have been killed, while the U.N. says 1.9 million people have been displaced.
On a visit to the front lines, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that his country is in the fight for the long haul. “The feeling that we will stop soon is incorrect. Without a clear victory, we will not be able to live in the Middle East,” he said.
As the Gaza ground war intensifies, Hamas and its allies are increasingly looking to take the conflict to a far broader arena in order to put pressure on Israel.
According to Seth Frantzman, a regional analyst with the Jerusalem Post and adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “Iran is certainly making a play here in terms of trying to isolate Israel [and] the U.S. and weaken U.S. influence, also showing that Israel doesn’t have the deterrence capabilities that it may have had in the past or at least thought it had.”
Northern front
On Tuesday a blast ripped through an office in Dahieh, a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut — 130 kilometers from the border with Israel. Hamas confirmed that one of its most senior leaders, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in the strike.
Government officials in Jerusalem have refused to confirm Israeli forces were behind the killing, while simultaneously presenting it as a “surgical strike against the Hamas leadership” and insisting it was not an attack against Lebanon itself, despite a warning from Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati that the incident risked dragging his country into a wider regional war.
Tensions between Israel and Lebanon have spiked in recent weeks, with fighters loyal to Hezbollah, the Shia Islamist militant group that controls the south of the country, firing hundreds of rockets across the frontier. Along with Hamas, Hezbollah is part of the Iranian-led “Axis of Resistance” that aims to destroy the state of Israel.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Iran’s foreign ministry said the death of al-Arouri, the most senior Hamas official confirmed to have died since October 7, will only embolden resistance against Israel, not only in the Palestinian territories but also in the wider Middle East.
The Israel Defense Forces are still fighting fierce battles for control of the Gaza Strip in what officials say is a mission to destroy Hamas | Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
“We’re talking about the death of a senior Hamas leader, not from Hezbollah or the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guards. Is it Iran who’s going to respond? Hezbollah? Hamas with rockets? Or will there be no response, with the various players waiting for the next assassination?” asked Héloïse Fayet, a researcher at the French Institute for International Relations.
In a much-anticipated speech on Wednesday evening, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah condemned the killing but did not announce a military response.
Red Sea boils over
For months now, sailors navigating the narrow Bab-el-Mandeb Strait that links Europe to Asia have faced a growing threat of drone strikes, missile attacks and even hijackings by Iran-backed Houthi militants operating off the coast of Yemen.
The Houthi movement, a Shia militant group supported by Iran in the Yemeni civil war against Saudi Arabia and its local allies, insists it is only targeting shipping with links to Israel in a bid to pressure it to end the war in Gaza. However, the busy trade route from the Suez Canal through the Red Sea has seen dozens of commercial vessels targeted or delayed, forcing Western nations to intervene.
Over the weekend, the U.S. Navy said it had intercepted two anti-ship missiles and sunk three boats carrying Houthi fighters in what it said was a hijacking attempt against the Maersk Hangzhou, a container ship. Danish shipping giant Maersk said Tuesday that it would “pause all transits through the Red Sea until further notice,” following a number of other cargo liners; energy giant BP is also suspending travel through the region.
On Wednesday the Houthis targeted a CMA CGM Tage container ship bound for Israel, according to the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea. “Any U.S. attack will not pass without a response or punishment,” he added.
“The sensible decision is one that the vast majority of shippers I think are now coming to, [which] is to transit through round the Cape of Good Hope,” said Marco Forgione, director general at the Institute of Export & International Trade. “But that in itself is not without heavy impact, it’s up to two weeks additional sailing time, adds over £1 million to the journey, and there are risks, particularly in West Africa, of piracy as well.”
However, John Stawpert, a senior manager at the International Chamber of Shipping, noted that while “there has been disruption” and an “understandable nervousness about transiting these routes … trade is continuing to flow.”
“A major contributory factor to that has been the presence of military assets committed to defending shipping from these attacks,” he said.
The impacts of the disruption, especially price hikes hitting consumers, will be seen “in the next couple of weeks,” according to Forgione. Oil and gas markets also risk taking a hit — the price of benchmark Brent crude rose by 3 percent to $78.22 a barrel on Wednesday. Almost 10 percent of the world’s oil and 7 percent of its gas flows through the Red Sea.
Western response
On Wednesday evening, the U.S., Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom issued an ultimatum calling the Houthi attacks “illegal, unacceptable, and profoundly destabilizing,” but with only vague threats of action.
“We call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews. The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways,” the statement said.
The Houthi movement insists it is only targeting shipping with links to Israel in a bid to pressure it to end the war in Gaza | Houthi Movement via Getty Images
Despite the tepid language, the U.S. has already struck back at militants from Iranian-backed groups such as Kataeb Hezbollah in Iraq and Syria after they carried out drone attacks that injured U.S. personnel.
The assumption in London is that airstrikes against the Houthis — if it came to that — would be U.S.-led with the U.K. as a partner. Other nations might also chip in.
Two French officials said Paris is not considering air strikes. The country’s position is to stick to self-defense, and that hasn’t changed, one of them said. French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu confirmed that assessment, saying on Tuesday that “we’re continuing to act in self-defense.”
“Would France, which is so proud of its third way and its position as a balancing power, be prepared to join an American-British coalition?” asked Fayet, the think tank researcher.
Iran looms large
Iran’s efforts to leverage its proxies in a below-the-radar battle against both Israel and the West appear to be well underway, and the conflict has already scuppered a long-awaited security deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“Since 1979, Iran has been conducting asymmetrical proxy terrorism where they try to advance their foreign policy objectives while displacing the consequences, the counterpunches, onto someone else — usually Arabs,” said Bradley Bowman, senior director of Washington’s Center on Military and Political Power. “An increasingly effective regional security architecture, of the kind the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are trying to build, is a nightmare for Iran which, like a bully on the playground, wants to keep all the other kids divided and distracted.”
Despite Iran’s fiery rhetoric, it has stopped short of declaring all-out war on its enemies or inflicting massive casualties on Western forces in the region — which experts say reflects the fact it would be outgunned in a conventional conflict.
“Neither Iran nor the U.S. nor Israel is ready for that big war,” said Alex Vatanka, director of the Middle East Institute’s Iran program. “Israel is a nuclear state, Iran is a nuclear threshold state — and the U.S. speaks for itself on this front.”
Israel might be betting on a long fight in Gaza, but Iran is trying to make the conflict a global one, he added. “Nobody wants a war, so both sides have been gambling on the long term, hoping to kill the other guy through a thousand cuts.”
Emilio Casalicchio contributed reporting.
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Gabriel Gavin, Antonia Zimmermann and Laura Kayali
A picture taken during an organised tour by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on November 22, 2023 showing the Galaxy Leader cargo ship approaching the port in the Red Sea off Yemen’s province of Hodeida.
– | Afp | Getty Images
Oil prices fell Tuesday as traders monitored rising tensions in the Red Sea amid a backdrop of record U.S. crude production and worries about demand in China.
The West Texas Intermediate contract for February lost $1.27, or 1.77%, to settle at $70.38 a barrel. The Brent contract for March shed $1.15, or 1.49%, to trade at $75.89.
Crude prices had jumped more than 2% earlier in the trading session on escalating tensions in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade chokepoint.
Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, said oil prices do not reflect the increase in tensions because traders are not convinced that a major supply disruption is on the horizon.
“The market is basically saying ‘we will wait and see until something happens,'” Croft told CNBC on Tuesday. “But it’s really getting much more serious every day,” she said of tensions in the region.
Traders are more focused on the macroeconomic backdrop of record U.S. production and faltering demand in China, said Adi Imsirovic, a veteran oil trader who is now an energy security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Danish shipping giant Maersk said Tuesday it will pause shipping through the Red Sea until further notice after one of its vessels came under attack by militants over the weekend.
And Iran on Monday deployed a destroyer to the Red Sea, according to the country’s Tansim news agency. The report did not elaborate on the details of the warship’s mission, but said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stressed the need to maintain a presence in international waters.
The move by Tehran comes after U.S. Navy helicopters destroyed three boats of Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The Navy was responding to a distress call by Singapore-flagged vessel Maersk Hangzhou which had come under Houthi fire, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
In a statement by a rebel spokesman on Sunday, the Houthi group maintained that the boats were engaged in “official duties to secure maritime routes”, a news channel owned by the rebels stated.
“Any escalation of conflict in this region is certainly going to add more of a risk premium on Brent,” Bernstein’s Senior Energy Analyst Neil Beveridge told CNBC. He noted, however, that there won’t be any major impact just yet.
“We haven’t seen the Iranian naval incursions before. And as long as it really doesn’t lead to any escalation, then I don’t really see any significant impact at this level,” he added.
The Houthi group has been attacking vessels in the Red Sea, targeting Israeli ships and other vessels headed to or from Israel, in retaliation for the country’s war in Gaza that has so far killed nearly 22,000 people there.
Major shipping companies stopped traversing the Suez Canal and Red Sea routes in early December, choosing to reroute via southern Africa instead — a longer and more expensive journey with ocean freight rates hitting as high as $10,000 per container.
German container shipper Hapag-Lloyd said Friday it would continue to divert its vessels around the Suez Canal.
The U.S. has launched a multinational maritime force, Operation Prosperity Guardian, in an effort to protect trade in the key waterway.
(Bloomberg) — Oil rose in New Year trading after Iran sent a warship into the Red Sea, escalating Middle East tensions, and as the outlook for Chinese crude demand brightened.
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Brent crude climbed more than 2% to near $79. The deployment of an Iranian warship comes after the US Navy said it was fired upon when responding to a distress call from a vessel in the Red Sea, the latest flashpoint on the key maritime corridor over the past few weeks. Defense and shipping stocks were also trading higher on Tuesday.
Attacks on merchant shipping in the region have led to diversions of everything from container ships to gas carriers. The most recent impact on for oil came as two crude tankers diverted away from loading in Sudan, though one was replaced by a different vessel. Still, even as some companies and shipowners stay away, the wider impact on supply has been contained for now.
Geopolitics threatens to inject fresh impetus into an oil market that last year fell for the first time since 2020. As 2024 gets underway, there’s been close focus on supply as high output from the US and other producers outside of OPEC and its allies counters the cartel’s output curbs.
A bumper crude import quota from China, the world’s largest buyer, added to oil’s momentum. Private refiners and traders received an allocation for crude purchasing that nearly matched the one they received for the entire of last year, potentially boosting the outlook for the country’s consumption.
“The latest events in the Red Sea, positive sentiment in European equity markets and the new Chinese import quotas are likely pushing crude higher,” said Giovanni Staunovo, a commodity analyst at UBS Group AG.
The latest cuts from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will take effect this quarter, which could then be extended further. Traders have generally been wary of the Nov. 30 pledge from OPEC+ to slash production further, remaining skeptical of its implementation.
A Houthi delegation met with officials in Tehran after the US response to the attack on a Danish-owned container ship. AP Moller-Maersk A/S has again suspended all Red Sea transit to assess the situation in the vital waterway.
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BRITAIN may be gearing up to launch airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthi group who have been wreaking havoc in the Red Sea.
After weeks of ambushes and attacks in waters off the coast of Yemen, the UK might be joining its allies and taking up arms against them.
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The Houthi rebels (pictured) are an Iran-backed group who have been attacking ships in the Red Sea
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HMS Diamond, a British missile destroyer which could be deployed to fight the Houthi
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The UK may even deploy RAF warplanes (pictured: RAF Typhoon jet, used at UK bases in Iraq and Syria)Credit: PA
In what could be an unprecedented move by Britain, tensions in the regions are likely to spiral further as the West looks to be fighting back.
A government source told The Times that the UK could unleash RAF warplanes or even Royal Navy warship HMS Diamond – a missile destroyer which took out an attack drone in the Red Sea just weeks ago.
Now the fresh and unprecedented response could be the first step in a much larger retaliation amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
The UK, under such plans, would join with America and potentially another European country to launch missile attacks against targets either in the Red Sea, or Yemen itself.
Both Britain and the US are expected to release a statement within hours warning the Houthis to stop their relentless attacks – or face the allied countries wrath.
The Westminster source described this statement as a “last warning” and said the response if attacks don’t stop would be “significant”.
They didn’t confirm which type of aircraft Britain could use – but RAF Typhoon jets are currently stationed at bases in Cyprus for missions in Iraq and Syria.
Apparently there to monitor any leftover threat from terror group ISIS, The Times previously reported that they are now being used to spy on Iran-backed terror proxies in Lebanon.
And Defence Secretary Grant Shapps later issued a formidable warning to the Iran-backed rebels.
He said: “Those terrorists who are disrupting trade in the Red Sea are drinking in the last chance saloon.
“Attacks on commercial shipping with drones and missiles is an attack on all of us and the culture and freedoms we cherish.
“There is no justification for targeting civilian shipping in this way. We need an immediate end to these illegal attacks.
“If the Houthis continue to threaten lives and trade, we will be forced to take the necessary and appropriate action.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “The situation in the Red Sea is incredibly serious, and the Houthi attacks are unacceptable and destabilising.
“As you would expect, while planning is underway for a range of scenarios, no decisions have yet been made and we continue to pursue all diplomatic routes.
“We call for the Iranian-backed Houthi to cease these illegal attacks and we are working with allies and partners to protect freedom of navigation.”
Major shipping firms such as BP and Maersk are also diverting vessels away from the Red Sea amid concerns the crisis will drive up the price of goods and inflation.
Since Operation Prosperity Guardian was announced just over 10 days ago, 1,200 merchant ships have traveled through the Red Sea region, and none had been hit by drone or missile strikes, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper said in an Associated Press interview, although the U.S. military said that one ship reported being struck by a missile late Saturday.
Cooper said earlier that day that additional countries are expected to sign on to the mission. Denmark was the latest, announcing Friday it plans to send a frigate to the mission that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced during a visit to Bahrain, where the Navy’s 5th Fleet is based, saying that “this is an international challenge that demands collective action.”
The narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea and then the Suez Canal. The crucial trade route links markets in Asia and Europe. The seriousness of the attacks, several of which have damaged vessels, led multiple shipping companies to order their vessels to hold in place and not enter the strait until the security situation improved. Some major shippers were sending their ships around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, adding time and costs to the journeys.
Currently there are five warships from the United States, France, and the United Kingdom patrolling the waters of the southern Red Sea and the western Gulf of Aden, said Cooper, who heads the 5th Fleet. Since the operation started, the ships have shot down a total of 17 drones and four anti-ship ballistic missiles, he said.
The U.S. military said Saturday it shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired toward a Maersk container ship in the Red Sea after the ship reported it had been hit by a missile. Two Navy destroyers responded to the call for help, and the Denmark-owned vessel was reportedly seaworthy and no injuries were noted, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command. Hours later, four Houthi boats fired at the same ship and tried to board, Central Command said. U.S. forces on two helicopters responded to the distress call and were also fired upon before they sank three of the Houthi vessels and killed the crews, Central Command said. The fourth boat fled the area. No damage to U.S. personnel or equipment was reported.
There have been about two dozen attacks on international shipping by the Houthis since Oct. 19.
Austin discussed the situation with the Dutch defense minister, Kajsa Ollongren, and they condemned the attacks as unacceptable and “profoundly destabilizing” to international order and global commerce, the Pentagon said Saturday.
The U.S. has said that more than 20 nations are participating in the security mission, but a number of those nations have not acknowledged it publicly.
“I expect in the coming weeks we’re going to get additional countries,” Cooper said, noting Denmark’s recent announcement.
Cooper said the coalition is in direct communication with commercial ships to provide guidance on “maneuvering and the best practices to avoid being attacked,” and working closely with the shipping industry to coordinate security.
An international task force had been set up in April 2022 to improve maritime security in the region. But Cooper said Operation Prosperity Guardian has more ships and a persistent presence to assist vessels.
Since the operation started, the Houthis have stepped up their use of anti-ship ballistic missiles, Cooper said. “We are cleareyed that the Houthi reckless attacks will likely continue,” he said.
The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014, launching a grinding war against a Saudi-led coalition that sought to restore the government. The militants have sporadically targeted ships in the region, but the attacks increased since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The Houthi threatened to attack any vessel they believe is either going to or coming from Israel. That has escalated to apparently any vessel, with container ships and oil tankers flagged to countries such as Norway and Liberia being attacked or drawing missile fire.
The shipping company Maersk had announced earlier that it had decided to re-route its ships that have been paused for days outside the strait and Red Sea, and send them around Africa instead. Maersk announced Dec. 25 that it was going to resume sending ships through the strait, citing the operation. Cooper said another shipping company had also resumed using the route.
“Commerce is definitely flowing,” Cooper said.
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A U.S. destroyer patrolling in the Red Sea Saturday shot down two ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen while it was responding to a report that a commercial vessel was itself struck by a missile, U.S. authorities said.
According to U.S. Central Command, the container ship Maersk Hangzhou — which is Danish-owned but sails under a Singaporean flag — reported at 8:30 p.m. local time that it had been struck by a missile in the Southern Red Sea.
No one was hurt and the ship remained seaworthy, CENTCOM reported in a social media post.
However, while responding to assist the Maersk Hangzhou, the USS Gravely shot down two anti-ship missiles which had been fired from Yemen, CENTCOM said. The missiles appeared to have been directed at the USS Gravely and the USS Laboon, which was also responding to the Maersk Hangzhou, CENTCOM said.
The Iranian-backed Houthi militant group — which controls large portions of Yemen — has been targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, slaughtering at least 1,200 people and sparking the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
The USS Gravely patrols the Red Sea. December 2023.
U.S. Central Command
According to CENTCOM, Saturday’s incident was the 23rd such attack by the Houthis on international shipping vessels since Nov. 19.
Earlier this month, CENTCOM reported that the USS Carney, a guided missile destroyer, shot down 14 attack drones suspected to have been fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen.
The White House last week accused Tehran of being “deeply involved” in the spate of Red Sea attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial vessels, an allegation which Iran’s deputy foreign minister denied.
The Pentagon reported that on Dec. 23, a chemical tanker off the coast of India was struck by a drone which had been fired from Iran. That ship sailed under a Liberian flag and was Dutch-operated. No one was wounded.
And in a Nov. 15 interview with CBS News, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also denied that Iran was responsible for a drone fired from Yemen that was shot down by the guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner. The drone appeared to be targeting the Hudner, U.S. officials said at the time.
“We really didn’t want this crisis to expand,” Amir-Abdollahian told CBS News, referencing the Israel-Hamas war. “But the U.S. has been intensifying the war in Gaza by throwing its support behind Israel. Yemen makes its own decisions and acts independently.”
Home furnishing giant Ikea also said that it could soon face shortages because major shippers were being forced to bypass the Red Sea, which links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and marks the shortest trade route between Europe and Asia, according to the Freights Baltic Index.
— Elizabeth Napolitano contributed to this report.
Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.
The U.S. conducted strikes on three locations in Iraq targeting Iran-backed militias, who have been launching strikes aimed at U.S. forces in recent weeks. The retaliatory strikes killed at least one and injured more than a dozen others. David Martin reports.
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(Reuters) – A drone launched from Iran struck a chemical tanker in the Indian ocean early on Saturday, the U.S. Department of Defense said.
“The motor vessel CHEM PLUTO, a Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned, and Netherlands-operated chemical tanker was struck at approximately 10 a.m. local time (6 a.m. GMT) today in the Indian Ocean, 200 nautical miles from the coast of India, by a one-way attack drone fired from Iran,” a Pentagon spokesperson told Reuters.
The incident highlights escalating regional tensions and new risk to shipping lanes after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
The Iranian government, as well as its allied militant forces in Yemen, have publicly criticized the Israeli government’s military operation in Gaza. Thousands of Palestinian citizens have been killed in the ongoing conflict, according to aid monitors.
The Pentagon statement said this was the “seventh Iranian attack on commercial shipping since 2021.”
There were no casualties as a result of the attack and a brief fire on board the tanker was extinguished. The incident took place only 200 nautical miles from the coast of India.
A spokesperson for the Iranian delegation at the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Christopher Bing; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
The White House on Friday accused Iran of being “deeply involved” in planning attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The White House said an Iranian intelligence ship is providing real-time information to a militia group in Yemen, which is then targeting the ships.
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An American destroyer intercepted four drones fired by Houthi militants into the busy shipping lanes of the Red Sea, as the escalating crisis saw two commercial tankers hit in one chaotic day.
In a statement issued Sunday, U.S. Central Command said its navy had “shot down four unmanned aerial drones originating from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen that were inbound to the USS Laboon” the day before. The American destroyer had been patrolling the area as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian, the Washington-led mission to prevent violence spilling over into the strategic waterway.
On Saturday, the Pentagon announced that a Japanese-owned, Liberian-flagged chemical tanker, the Chem Pluto, had been struck by a drone in the Indian Ocean, stating that the attack was launched from Iran.
According to data from analytics platform Kpler, seen by POLITICO, the Chem Pluto had been carrying almost 43,000 barrels of highly-flammable benzene en route to the port of Mangaluru at the time, but no casualties have been reported. The attack was well outside the usual area of operation for Houthi drones, around 300 nautical miles from the coast of India and it is believed to be the first time the U.S. has accused Iran directly of targeting commercial shipping since the crisis began.
Washington has previously said intelligence revealed Iran was “deeply involved” in planning attacks on vessels, working closely with Yemen’s Houthi rebels to cause a crisis that experts fear is already threatening the world economy. Houthi forces say they are targeting vessels with links to Israel in retaliation for its war in Gaza.
On Saturday evening, two civilian ships in the Red Sea area sounded the alarm that they were under attack. The Blaamanen, a Norwegian-flagged vessel carrying a quarter of a million tons of sunflower oil, reported it had narrowly avoided an attack drone, while Indian-flagged crude oil tanker Saibaba confirmed it had taken a direct hit.
Close to the Suez Canal which links Europe to Asia, more than 10 percent of global trade passes through the Red Sea, with around 17,000 ships a year crossing between the Mediterranean and the Arabian Sea.
In his first interview since being appointed as U.K. foreign secretary, former British prime minister David Cameron, told The Telegraph on Friday that the West must send “an incredibly clear message that this escalation will not be tolerated” to Tehran. Along with France, Italy and Spain, the U.K. is one of a handful of countries joining forces with the U.S. as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian.
Iranian officials arrested rapper Toomaj Salehi less than two weeks after his release from prison on bail, where he was serving a six-year sentence on multiple charges stemming from his support for anti-hijab protests. Salehi has been charged with “spreading lies and violation of public opinion.” After his release from prison, Salehi released a video message saying he had been tortured after his first arrest, when state media showed a video of him blindfolded and apologizing for his support of the protests.
The US military said it shot down 14 drones in the Red Sea launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen as attacks on commercial carriers continue from the Iranian-backed group, threatening havoc for world trade.
Major shippers MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA and CMA CGM were the latest to announce on Saturday that they won’t send their vessels through the Red Sea for now in the face of rising threats.
The unmanned aerial systems “were assessed to be one-way attack drones and were shot down with no damage to ships in the area or reported injuries,” US Central Command said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Regional Red Sea partners were alerted to the threat.”
The drones were struck down by the USS Carney guided missile destroyer early on Saturday. The UK navy also repelled a suspected drone attack.
The MSC Palatium III was attacked on Friday in the Red Sea, the company said in a statement on its website, confirming earlier reports. There were no injuries among the crew of the container ship, though there was “limited fire damage” and the vessel has been taken out of service.
“Due to this incident and to protect the lives and safety of our seafarers, until the Red Sea passage is safe, MSC ships will not transit the Suez Canal eastbound and westbound,” the company said in its statement.
“Some services will be rerouted to go via the Cape of Good Hope instead,” it said, referring to the southern tip of Africa.
Separately, the French group CMA CGM instructed its container ships scheduled to pass through the Red Sea to pause their journey in safe waters until further notice.
UK naval forces shot down a suspected attack drone that was targeting merchant ships in the Red Sea, Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said in a post on X on Saturday. The HMS Diamond used a Sea Viper missile to down the target, he said, without giving more details.
Flexport Inc., a freight forwarding platform based in San Francisco, said in a blog post that taking the route around Africa prolongs the journey by seven to 10 days compared with using the Suez Canal.
Rebels in Yemen escalated a threat against ships with ties to Israel in November, calling them “legitimate targets,” and appear to be targeting vessels in the vicinity more generally.
Rerouting the world’s container fleet around the conflict zone during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza threatens to increase freight rates and cause delays rippling across global supply chains.
About 5% of global trade depends on the Panama Canal and 12% depends on Suez, according to Marco Forgione, director general at the Institute of Export & International Trade.
— With assistance from Valentine Baldassar
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Nader Saeivar’s Iranian drama No End has been dropped from the official selection of the Hainan Island International Film Festival in what filmmakers say was an act of censorship by Chinese authorities.
ArtHood Entertainment, which are handling world sales for No End, told The Hollywood Reporter they received a confirmation from the Hainan Island festival on November 19, that the Iranian drama had been picked for the event, to run in the main competition. The 2023 Hainan festival runs from Dec. 16-22 in the tropical resort city of Sanya in China’s southernmost province.
But this week, the festival has pulled the film, citing “political pressure and censorship laws of the Chinese government,” said ArtHood.
The Hainan festival is backed by the state-run China Media Group and the People’s Government of Hainan Province, under the guidance of the China Film Administration. The event’s competition jury this year includes international figures like Cannes regular Nuri Bilge Ceylan (About Dry Grasses), Iranian filmmaker Shahram Mokri (Fish & Cat) and French cinematographer Caroline Champetier (Holy Motors), along with major figures from the Chinese industry, such as actor-director Dong Chengpeng (Jian Bing Man) and actor Huang Xiaoming (The Message), among others. Past star attendees to the event, which appeared to be on the rise before the pandemic, have included Ethan Hawke, Johnny Depp, Jackie Chan, Aamir Khan, Nicolas Cage and Isabelle Huppert.
“[We] acknowledge the pressures that festivals under oppressive regimes face and applaud those that are able to maintain high artistic standards despite state censorship,” ArtHood said. “Nevertheless, [we are] disappointed and shocked by the decision of the authorities.”
The Hollywood Reporter reached out the Hainan Island festival via email for comment but has not received a response.
Seivar co-wrote No End with acclaimed dissident director Jafar Panahi. The award-winning filmmaker of Taxi, The White Ballon, The Circle, and No Bears, Panahi has continued to make movies despite receiving a 20-year ban in 2010 for alleged “propaganda” against the Islamic regime.
“I’m sorry that I can’t attend your festival,” Nader Saeivar wrote in an email to Hainan Island organizers, seen by The Hollywood Reporter. “I was eager to visit your beautiful city and have the opportunity to know the great culture of China better. However, I prefer not to attend a festival that practices censorship protocols. Such censorship measures have also banned the creation and distribution of many great movies in my home country. Also, the same view of art in my country has imprisoned many filmmakers and freedom seekers, including several female artists. Unfortunately, your festival has the same view of art and practices censorship principles. I deeply wish we can watch films created to improve justice and freedom in the world in a free festival in China.”
No End is the story of Ayaz, an honest, hardworking man who dreams of having a house of his own and invests every penny he makes into the construction of his future home, while comfortably living off the money sent to his mother-in-law by her son, who has been living abroad for many years in exile. When the son is suddenly given permission to return, Ayaz tries to stop it by staging a search of his house to scare him off. His plans work too well: Iran‘s actual secret service catches wind of the search and turns its attention to Ayaz, with disastrous consequences.
ArtHood Films and Saeivar are currently in post-production on their next film, also co-written by Saeivar and Panahi, which, ArtHood said, is “as much, if not more, political [than No End],” criticizing the authoritarian regime of Iran and “carrying the banner for human rights.”
The children of imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf on Sunday, reading out a speech she’d written behind bars in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.
Her prize was placed on an empty chair Sunday between her 17-year-old twins, Ali and Kiana Rahmani, at the award ceremony in Oslo, Norway.
Mohammadi, who was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize in October for her decades of human rights activism, went on a hunger strike as her prize was announced.
“I am an Iranian woman, a proud and honorable contributor to civilization, who is currently under the oppression of a despotic religious government,” her children said on her behalf. “I am a woman prisoner who, in enduring deep and soul-crushing suffering resulting from the lack of freedom, equality, and democracy, has recognized the necessity of her existence and has found faith.”
Mohammadi, who campaigned against the compulsory wearing of the hijab and the death penalty in Iran, also paid tribute to Shirin Ebadi, the first Iranian woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Mohammadi’s activism has continued in prison. She’s currently on a hunger strike “in solidarity” with the Baha’i religious minority, her brother and husband told a press conference in the Norwegian capital on the eve of the Nobel award ceremony.
Ali Rahmani and Kiana Rahmani, children of Nobel Peace Prize 2023 laureate Narges Mohammadi, pose after delivering their speech during the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony at the City Hall in Oslo, Norway, on Dec. 10, 2023.
Sergei Gapon/Anadolu via Getty Images
She also recently went on a hunger strike to be granted the right to get medical treatment without having to wear a hijab, Norwegian Nobel Committee Chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said.
“Recently she was offered much-needed medical help at a hospital on the condition that she wore a hijab when leaving the prison,” Reiss-Andersen said at the ceremony. “She refused and initiated a hunger strike. Finally, she was taken to hospital for a brief examination under tight security – but not wearing a hijab. Her resolve is unshakable.”
While behind bars in September 2022, Mohammadi also took leadership of the “Woman – Life – Freedom” movement following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini. Amini was killed while in the custody of Iran’s morality police after she was accused of a dress code violation.
“The abolition of the mandatory hijab is equivalent to the abolition of all roots of religious tyranny and the breaking of the chains of authoritarian oppression,” Mohammadi’s children said on her behalf.
A large portrait of Mohammadi — hair uncovered — was on display during Sunday’s ceremony.
“She has asked us to use this particular photograph, which expresses how she wants to lead her life – looking happy in colorful garments, exposing her hair, and with a steady gaze towards us,” Reiss-Andersen said.
Mohammadi has been arrested 13 times, Reiss-Andersen said. In 2015, she began serving a sentence of 10 years and 153 lashes. Her children, who live in exile in France with Mohammadi’s husband, Taghi Rahmani, have not seen her in eight years.
Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.
