Houthis gain ground as Iran denies any links

Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Monday unleashed a fresh barrage of missile-drone attacks on Saudi military bases and claimed to have seized the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea, as Iran denied any involvement in the country’s revived civil war. 
The Houthis said they fired dozens of drones and missiles at the kingdom, prompting the Saudi Civil Defence to issue brief alerts in the neighbouring cities of Khamis Mushait and Abha. 
The group, fighting the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government, last week seized control of Yemen's Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which has become vital as the wider US-Iran war chokes the Strait of Hormuz. 
Houthi officials said rebels had taken over the two islands just as Saudi-backed government forces tried to claw back territory from the rebels’ swift advances around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. This would bolster the Iran-backed rebels’ ability to control a key maritime shipping route.
The Houthis’ latest takeover, following the seizure of the Red Sea port of Mokha and a strategic island last week, puts more pressure on Saudi shipments and, in turn, global oil supplies and prices.  Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Monday that Saudi Arabia had “demanded” that a meeting bringing together Iran with other regional countries to discuss the Strait of Hormuz be scrapped “for the time being.”
Baghaei called the meeting, which was to be hosted by Oman, a “proper opportunity” to restore security in the region. 
An Iranian atomic official on Monday accused the United States of "malicious" behaviour and "bullying" after Tehran said US officials had blocked it from a conference of the UN's nuclear energy agency. 

Arab states in the Gulf called off a meeting with Iran planned for Monday, while Yemen's Houthis launched a new attack on Saudi Arabia after fighting that has extended the Middle East war to another theatre and further jeopardised global oil supplies. 
China, a major Middle East oil importer, on Monday called Houthi attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure “unacceptable” and said that it was “deeply concerned” about further escalations by the rebels against Saudi Arabia. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said that “attacks on civilian infrastructure that is important to people’s livelihoods are unacceptable.”
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen Monday condemned "relentless attacks" by Iranian-backed armed groups in the Gulf, following the latest strikes by Yemen's Houthis against Saudi military targets.
"We stand in solidarity with our Gulf partners in the face of relentless attacks by Iran's proxies," the European Commission chief posted on X. "We all have a stake in this."