DUBAI, Sept 7 — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on Monday accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out airstrikes around the country as the rebels press a deadly offensive to seize territory bordering the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait. The attacks targeted Houthi positions around the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, which is divided between areas held by the rebels and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government.

“The Saudi enemy targeted the provinces of Jawf, al-Bayda, Marib and Taiz with several airstrikes and cruise missiles,” said the Saba news agency, which is affiliated with the Houthi movement. Days of fighting near the Red Sea coast has left more than 300 people dead and displaced hundreds of families as the Houthis try to capture land bordering the Bab al-Mandab.

The narrow waterway forms the southern entrance to the Red Sea, a shipping artery that has become a vital route for Saudi oil exports since Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway to the Gulf, during the US-Iran war. Military sources within the government forces also reported the air raids and missile attacks to AFP.

They have not been claimed by Saudi Arabia. Most of the strikes were in Al Bayda and Marib, aiming at strategic positions, gatherings, and camps under Houthi control, the sources said on condition of anonymity. On Saturday, a military official told AFP that Saudi airstrikes had targeted positions recently seized by the Houthis in Taiz governorate.

The Houthis and government forces have been fighting for days over control of the Bab al-Mandab, the deadliest flare-up in Yemen since a 2022 ceasefire collapsed in July. The Houthis, whose attacks seriously disrupted Red Sea shipping during the Gaza war, have also announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and have been targeting its ships and territory.

Iranian state television has broadcast footage it said showed ballistic missile attacks on a US aircraft carrier and destroyer, as Iran and the United States exchanged strikes on military and oil-related targets in and around the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the two US warships were targeted with Iranian-made Qasem Basir ballistic missiles, alleging that the vessels had participated in a naval blockade of Iranian shipping.

The IRGC claimed the missiles damaged both vessels and forced them to withdraw from the area. The footage broadcast by Iranian state media was presented as documenting the attacks, but the claims of direct hits and damage could not be independently verified.

The Iranian military described the strikes as retaliation for US attacks on three Iranian oil tankers. The US military said on Saturday that it had targeted three tankers linked to the Revolutionary Guard, permanently disabling two and destroying a third.

It described the vessels as part of a network generating funds for the IRGC and Iran-aligned groups in the region. READ: Iran shifting military doctrine toward preemptive attack: Army spokesman According to the US military, one tanker was targeted off Kharg Island, the site of Iran’s largest oil export terminal, another near the Strait of Hormuz, and the third in the Gulf of Oman.

The Revolutionary Guard confirmed that three Iranian tankers had been attacked and subsequently announced retaliatory operations against US naval assets. In a separate statement on Sunday, the IRGC said its naval forces had targeted a US unmanned surface vessel that it claimed was attempting to enter a restricted area of the Strait of Hormuz.

The outcome of that attack was not independently confirmed. Iranian authorities also said their forces had targeted three oil tankers that were allegedly transiting the strait without authorization, as well as several US warships in other locations.

The exchanges come amid heightened military tensions between Washington and Tehran and stalled diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. The United States has also intensified economic pressure on Iran through sanctions and restrictions targeting Iranian oil revenues and entities linked to the Revolutionary Guard.

Iranian officials announced plans to designate a new restricted zone in the Gulf and establish a shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, which state media reported would be signed in the coming days. These statements were made by Mohsen Rezaei against the backdrop of recent strikes on shipping vessels, which contributed to higher oil prices, and a preliminary ceasefire agreement that has reportedly unraveled.

Iran plans new 'exclusion zone' near Strait of Hormuz The new head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council says the country plans to announce an "exclusion zone" outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway.

Mohsen Rezaei's comments to Iran's state broadcaster came with few details, a day after the US struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to what it said was Iran launching ballistic missiles at US warships. The new zone should be announced in the coming days and weeks and "will begin from the line of the US naval blockade, extend toward the Strait of Hormuz, and from this side continue into the Persian Gulf," Rezaei said.

"Any ship that enters this area with the intention of passing through the Strait of Hormuz and is identified will be placed on our sanctions list." It is not clear where Iran defines the location of the weeks-long US blockade, which is aimed at Iranian ports and keeping Iran from shipping out its oil.

The US military has said more than 20 warships are supporting the blockade, which as of Sunday had redirected 92 commercial ships and disabled three. The US has been introducing new measures to increase the economic pain on Iran after negotiations collapsed and no end to the intermittent fighting appears in sight.

Meanwhile, Iran continues to attack some ships trying to transit the strait, which has become an important source of leverage in the war that began February 28 with US and Israeli strikes. Iran earlier on Sunday said it struck an unmanned US vessel trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, a claim that the US military dismissed as a "total lie".

The strait is crucial to global oil and natural gas shipments and was seen as an international waterway before the war began. On Sunday, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that on average, nine million barrels of oil a day are getting through the strait, which should help to relieve pressure on energy prices.

His estimate appeared to exceed average flows over the past 28 days through the strait, according to TankerTrackers.com and other sources. Wright told CNN that with oil also flowing through pipelines in the region, "we're probably two-thirds or more of pre-conflict flows".

But those flows depend on the presence of the US navy to help escort tankers and provide some protection against possible Iranian attack. Wright said he expected that other countries would eventually support the US navy's efforts. Meanwhile, Rezaei in his interview with state TV insisted that "every day we are selling one million, one and a half million (barrels), as if Iran's oil production and trade are continuing as usual".