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Yemen

August 6, 2026

Sanaa 9:10 pm

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Explainer

Iran-Oman deal spurs Hormuz hopes as Red Sea threats evolve

Iran has signaled that an agreement was reached with Oman establishing a Hormuz shipping route even as Houthi attacks in the Red Sea expand.

An Egyptian man looks at the Qatari Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier "Duhail" as its passes through the Suez Canal near the Egyptian port city of Ismailia on April 1, 2008. The vessel has a capacity of 210,100 cu.m making it one of the largest LNG carriers constructed to date. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

How strike on Damietta port exposes Egypt's energy infrastructure risks

The unclaimed attack on the port of Damietta could draw Egypt further into the US-Iran conflict as experts point to growing threats to critical infrastructure in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

This aerial photo shows a tanker unloading imported crude oil at a terminal port in Qingdao, in China's eastern Shandong province on June 25, 2026. (Photo by CN-STR / AFP via Getty Images) / China OUT

China cuts deal with Houthis, adjusts for long US war with Iran

China is cutting its own deals and gaining wartime leverage as the Trump administration scrambles to contain the war and reopen Hormuz.

Latest News

Oil jumps 8% as US-Iran war pressures Saudi Arabia, explosions hit Egypt

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on July 24, 2026, in New York.

A car passes by the site of the attack against Hassan Zaid, minister for youth and sports in Yemen's rebel Huthi administration, where he was shot dead by unidentified gunmen, in the Huthi-held capital Sanaa on October 27, 2020. - Unidentified gunmen shot the Huthi government minister as he drove his car, also wounding his daughter. Yemen is mired in civil war between Iran-backed Huthi rebels -- who control the capital but whose administration is not internationally recognised -- and a beleaguered governmen

Houthi minister shot dead in Yemeni capital

The sports minister for the Iran-backed Houthi administration was assassinated while in his car as the war with the Saudi-backed government rages on.

Yemen’s rival sides begin largest-yet prisoner swap

The Houthi rebels and the Aden-based government agreed last month to exchange 1,081 prisoners.

Head of the Houthi prisoner exchange committee Abdulkader al-Murtada (C - L) shakes hands with Head of the Yemeni government delegation Hadi Haig (C - L) between ICRC Director for the Near and Middle East Fabrizio Carboni (L) and UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths at the end of a week-long meeting on a Yemen prisoner exchange agreement on September 27, 2020 in Glion, western Switzerland. - Both sides in Yemen's war have agreed to exchange more than 1,000 prisoners, the UN mediator during a week of

Yemen's Houthi rebels release two US citizens in prisoner swap

Officials from Saudi Arabia and Oman helped negotiate the release

A woman sits outside a tent at a displaced persons camp in the Khokha district of Yemen's western province of Hodeida, on May 6, 2020. - Almost six years of war between the Yemeni government and tenacious Iran-backed Huthi rebels has pushed millions to the brink of famine in the country ill prepared to face the new threat. Squalid camps for internally displaced people like the one in Al-Khokha, outside the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, are ideal breeding grounds for disease, with little chance for proper sa

UN’s Yemen envoy urges end to clashes in Hodeidah

Martin Griffiths said he was alarmed by reports of casualties among civilians, including women and children.

Saudi Arabia warns of ‘oil spot’ near aging tanker off Yemen's coast

UN officials have described the FSO Safer, an aging vessel that contains 1.14 million barrels of light crude oil, as a ticking time bomb.

Major General Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim (C), chief of intelligence of the administration of Yemen's Huthi rebels in control of the capital Sanaa, and other Huthi officials attend an official parade commemorating the sixth anniversary of the Huthi takeover of the capital Sanaa on September 20, 2020. (Photo by MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Stakes high in Yemen's Marib province for Houthis, Saudis

Yemen’s Houthi rebels face fierce resistance from the Saudi-backed government forces in the oil-rich province of Marib.

State Department officials testify before Congress on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, UAE

The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said the May 2019 sale did not warrant an emergency certification, but a State official cited the threat from Iran.

A picture shows the extensive damages at the National Museum in Yemen's third city of Taez on July 13, 2020. - The two faces of the National Museum in Taez, southwest Yemen, are testament to the ravages of the war that has consumed the Arabian peninsula country. One side has been beautifully restored to its former grandeur, recalling a traditional palace from an earlier Arab civilisation. (Photo by AHMAD AL-BASHA / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-BASHA/AFP via Getty Images)

Arms from Iran, Western countries prolonging Yemen’s war: UN

A panel of UN investigators found all of Yemen's rival factions have violated international law and in some cases, may have committed war crimes.

A Yemeni health worker sterilizes a classroom in a school amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the capital Sanaa, on August 29, 2020, ahead of the new school year starting in early September. (Photo by Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Audio: Despite enormous challenges, Yemen’s educators return to classroom

Yemen's ongoing civil war, cholera and coronavirus outbreak and a lack of paychecks have failed to deter intrepid educators from opening school doors this week.

Yemen’s warring parties urged to reveal whereabouts of detainees

A group of eight human rights organizations called on Yemen's rival factions to urgently release all of their arbitrarily detained prisoners.

A Yemeni labourer removes the rubble ahead of restoration works on the site of a collapsed UNESCO-listed building following heavy rains, in the old city of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, on August 12, 2020. - Flash floods triggered by torrential rains have killed at least 172 people across Yemen over the past month, damaging homes and UNESCO-listed world heritage sites, officials said. (Photo by Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Yemen’s warring sides blamed for destruction of heritage during heavy rainfall

Yemen is trying to save its cultural heritage by appealing to UNESCO and the international community, after many of its historic cities have started collapsing due to heavy rains.

Al-Qaeda executes dentist in Yemen

Al-Qaeda in Yemen killed a dentist in Yemen on spying charges and then tied his body on a makeshift cross as the country slides deeper into lawlessness and chaos.