Global News Brief: Yemen Conflict Escalates, US Denies Iranian Official Visa
The Houthi movement in Yemen announced on Monday that it launched dozens of ballistic missiles and drones targeting the King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, Saudi Arabia. The group stated this attack was a response to recent strikes they attributed to Riyadh in Yemen. Meanwhile, Tehran denied any involvement in the renewed conflict, which is occurring amidst the ongoing war.
In related news, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed that the United States rejected a request for an exemption from sanctions for Iranian Vice President and head of the Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, to obtain a visa for a meeting at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Austria. Iran's Deputy Head of the Atomic Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalvandi, called Austria's refusal to grant visas to the Iranian delegation "childish behavior" orchestrated by the Trump administration. Iran subsequently summoned the Austrian charge d'affaires to protest the decision.
Iran also announced that a meeting scheduled for Monday in Oman with Gulf states concerning the Strait of Hormuz had been postponed at Saudi Arabia's request. Riyadh cited the situation in Yemen as the reason, a justification Iran dismissed as a "flimsy excuse."
Elsewhere, the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem accused Israel of implementing interconnected policies in the occupied West Bank as part of a broader project to erase Palestinians as a people. In Sudan, the Rapid Support Forces launched a drone attack on Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile state. In Iraq, a butcher was sentenced to ten years in prison in Najaf for selling unwholesome pork as beef. In Ukraine, a Russian strike on a warehouse in the Chernihiv region killed three people and injured seven. Twelve European nations called on the EU to increase its presence in the Arctic amid geopolitical tensions. Sweden is completing its vote count from general elections where the left-wing opposition made minor gains. In Greece, one person died and 25 are missing after a migrant boat capsized near the island of Gavdos. The United States is hosting G20 meetings, with one focused on "energy abundance" while the war on Iran continues to destabilize global oil markets. The Washington Post reported that the Kennedy Center faces potential bankruptcy. In Mali, at least 50 soldiers and five Russian mercenaries were killed in an attack on a military base. Beijing denied reports that Chinese entities provided Iran with satellite imagery of a Jordanian military base before an attack that killed three American soldiers. In the UK, major separatist parties from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland announced joint talks to advance their campaigns for secession from Britain. Indonesian rescuers resumed their search for 129 missing people from a ferry that sank in the Java Sea, killing at least six. In the Philippines, voters are participating in a historic referendum for the first parliamentary elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, following violence that killed at least three people outside a polling station.
