Israel chief of staff in contact with US counterpart, IDF says

The latest Houthi threat against maritime operations in the Red Sea is not expected to have a major impact on traffic because most shipping lines were already avoiding the area, shipping executives said, according to the Financial Times.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on Monday repeated an earlier threat to target all Israeli shipping in the area.

“It doesn’t appear that this escalates the risk for container shipping,” Lars Jensen, chief executive of Vespucci Maritime, said.

Passage through the Bab-al-Mandab Strait was at least 50 per cent below what it was before 2023, according to the report.

The Israeli military said its strike on a petrochemical complex in southwest Iran on Monday targeted infrastructure used to produce raw materials for missile manufacturing.

“The targeted infrastructure produced unique materials that serve as critical components for the development of ballistic missiles, which pose a threat to the State of Israel and its citizens,” the military said.

“These are critical components of the production infrastructure supporting the Iranian terror regime’s missile program,” the IDF added.

Iran is prepared for a prolonged conflict with Israel and for strikes against US interests, with all necessary preparations already in place, Guards-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported on Monday, citing an unnamed military source.

The source said any belief by Israel or the United States that Iran’s response could be contained through a strategy of “controlled escalation” was a miscalculation, adding that Tehran would raise the level of confrontation and punishment until Israel “regrets continuing its crimes.”

The source also said Washington could not distance itself from Israel’s actions and would bear costs for its support, dismissing any portrayal of separate US and Israeli fronts as “propaganda and deception.”

The head of Iran’s Expediency Council said Iran’s strike in defense of Lebanon was not merely a military response, but the formal declaration of a new strategic doctrine.

Sadegh Amoli Larijani said the operation sent a clear message that any attack on "one pillar of the Axis of Resistance would draw a response extending beyond geographical borders and could reshape regional dynamics."

"Iran had also demonstrated that any expansion of the conflict or attack on the country’s critical infrastructure would be met with a comprehensive and deterrent response, one that could encompass all actors supporting such confrontation," he added.

US President Donald Trump on Monday urged Israel and Iran to immediately stop “shooting” after renewed clashes between the two countries.

"Israel and Iran must immediately stop 'shooting'," he wrote in a post on Truth Social.

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