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Two wounded as 'projectile' hits tanker in Hormuz

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO) said a tanker was struck by an "unknown projectile" as it headed into the Strait of Hormuz. Two crew members sustained minor injuries.

The UKMTO said Monday the vessel is reportedly continuing to its next port of call under its own power. No reports indicated any environmental impact at this time.

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NYT says Trump reversed decision on airstrikes on Houthis

U.S. President Donald Trump has changed his strategy on Yemen several times, The New York Times reported, torn between Saudi pressure to strike the Iran-backed Houthis and the risk of opening another front in the Middle East war.

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Iran’s top diplomat will stop in Qatar on way to US

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will stop briefly in Qatar before going to New York for the U.N. General Assembly, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Tehran has said it is awaiting a U.S. response to conditions it conveyed through Qatar for ending the war. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council chief Mohsen Rezaei told Al Jazeera on Saturday the conditions include ending the war on all fronts, releasing Iranian assets seized by the U.S. and ending the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.

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Houthis say they won't attack US vessels in Red Sea, warn countries not to join Saudis

A senior official with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels is warning countries against joining Saudi Arabia in Yemen’s revived civil war, telling The Associated Press on Sunday that his group has assured the Trump administration that it won’t attack U.S. vessels in the Red Sea.

Mohamed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau, said Washington reached out to the rebels after their rapid advance down Yemen’s western coast to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait earlier this month.

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US fears rapid escalation in Mideast after Houthis attack Riyadh

The United States warned Saturday that hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthis could "escalate rapidly" after a missile attack targeted Riyadh for the first time since the Yemen conflict resumed.

U.S. President Donald Trump cut short a weekend at Camp David, a secluded presidential complex in rural Maryland, to return unexpectedly to the White House on Saturday.

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Trump cuts short weekend, returns to White House

U.S. President Donald Trump cut short a weekend at Camp David to return unexpectedly to the White House, as tensions rose in the Middle East.

There was no explanation from the administration why Trump was no longer returning on Sunday from Camp David, a secluded presidential complex in rural Maryland, as had been previously announced.

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Saudi capital issues first air raid alert since renewed fighting in Yemen

Explosions were heard in Riyadh early Saturday, AFP journalists reported, after Saudi authorities issued their first air raid alert in the capital since fighting returned to neighboring Yemen.

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Tens of thousands flee as Iran-backed rebels draw Yemen into the wider war

As Houthi rebels closed in, Eshraq Abdel Gelil and her husband fled their home, walking through the mountains before catching a ride to a nearby city. Four months pregnant, she feared another miscarriage.

They are among an estimated 125,000 people who have fled as the Iran-backed rebels have advanced down the Red Sea coast to a key maritime chokepoint. The offensive, linked to the wider Iran war, has threatened Saudi oil exports, pushed up global fuel prices and rattled markets.

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Former Syrian official convicted of torture sentenced to 60 years in US prison

A former Syrian military official convicted of torturing prisoners during the rule of former President Bashar Assad was sentenced Thursday to 60 years in a U.S. prison after a federal judge recounted the "unimaginably cruel" details of his abuse.

A jury in March found Samir Ousman Alsheikh guilty on all six counts including torture and conspiracy to commit torture for his actions while in charge of Syria's infamous Adra Prison from roughly 2005 to 2008.

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Houthis eye oil-rich east, week after seizing Red Sea city,

It's been a week since Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels stormed down the Red Sea coast, extending their reach to a key maritime chokepoint and threatening Saudi Arabia's oil exports.

The Houthis' biggest land grab in years reignited Yemen's 12-year civil war and pushed up global fuel prices. It also gave Iran another potential source of leverage as the United States has started to loosen Tehran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz, on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.

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