Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Monday they had targeted a Saudi military vessel and four accompanying boats in the Red Sea, as part of their maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia.

Yahya Saree, military spokesperson for the Iran-backed Houthis, said they had "succeeded in targeting a military landing ship belonging to the Saudi enemy, accompanied by four military patrol boats, in the Red Sea off the coast of Mokha, using several ballistic missiles".

The U.N. rights chief voiced alarm Monday at the rising civilian toll of escalating hostilities in Yemen, urging restraint and an immediate de-escalation to avoid plunging the country back into a full-scale war.

"I urge all parties to halt immediately any actions that risk returning Yemen to full-scale conflict," Volker Turk said in a statement, as renewed fighting between the Houthi rebels and the government undermined a 2022 truce.

Iran said Monday it is working to finalize a joint statement with Oman on a plan to manage the transit of ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Fully reopening the waterway to commercial shipping has been a key demand of the United States, but it remains unclear whether the deal will meet Washington's criteria.

The announcement came as the 60-day negotiating period to find a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran was expiring, with no word of an extension and both sides seemingly as far apart as they were two months ago.

Several regional powers including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates issued a statement Sunday condemning Israel’s rejection of the road map, saying, “Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza.” Other signers included Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia and the ceasefire mediators.

The foreign ministers’ statement called on the Board of Peace and the U.S. to take “immediate and concrete measures” to keep any party from obstructing the plan’s implementation.

The deal that U.S. President Donald Trump signed at Versailles in June set an ambitious 60-day deadline for ending the war with Iran and reaching an accord on its nuclear program.

The deadline was Monday, and the two sides are further apart than they were then.

Two drones launched from inside Iran targeted the Iraqi Kurdistan prime minister's office and the home of the autonomous region's intelligence chief overnight, authorities said Monday.

"Two Hadid-110 type explosive-laden drones were launched from across the Iranian border toward the private office of the Kurdistan region prime minister and the residence of the Parastin Agency director," the regional Counter-Terrorism Directorate said. "Fortunately, no casualties were reported."

The top U.S. military commander Adm. Brad Cooper visited the USS Lincoln as reports have emerged of mental health and supply issues. The Lincoln arrived in the Middle East in January and has been supporting the U.S. war against Iran, including the blockade on Iranian ports. It has spent a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days.

“History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era,” Cooper said of the Lincoln strike group in a statement released Saturday. Extended deployments of carriers — which can have more than 5,000 sailors and Marines on board — have raised concerns.

An extremist Israeli lawmaker in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition publicly advocated for killing "30 to 40" people in Gaza each night, comments that surfaced Sunday and were quickly shared by Palestinian media.

Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir made the statement while speaking to a former Gaza-held hostage, Rom Braslavski, on Braslavski's podcast. The two were discussing Israel's recovery from the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, when Ben-Gvir criticized Israel's recent drawdown of strikes in Gaza.

Mideast negotiator and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner was meeting Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu days after the premier rejected the 15-point, U.S.-backed road map to move the ceasefire deal forward in Gaza.

The meeting, which had stretched to about three hours as of Monday afternoon, follows Kushner's two-hour meeting with the Hamas leader in Egypt, as the U.S. presses for Israel's approval of the road map. There is a lot at stake, including the lives of some 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, reconstruction of the war-demolished enclave and future control over it.

Yemen's years-long civil conflict killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted millions and drove the country to the brink of famine before a 2022 truce restored relative calm. Now, renewed hostilities between the Houthi rebels and the government have many fearing the return of all-out war.

Hodeida native Anwar, a father of two, recalls fleeing the advance of the Iran-backed Houthis, seeking refuge in the city of Mokha.