ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iran-aligned Ansarullah Movement in Yemen, widely known as the Houthis, on Monday said it is reinstating its blockade on Israeli maritime shipping in the Red Sea. The move comes as a cautious calm prevails between Iran and Israel following a weekend escalation that Tehran attributed to Israeli military operations in Lebanon and which Israeli officials say will continue despite the truce with Iran.
“We announce a complete and total ban on Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea, and we consider all enemy shipping to be legitimate military targets for our armed forces from the moment this statement is issued [on Monday],” the Houthis, who are a key component of the Iran-led ‘Axis of Resistance,’ said in a statement.
The group further stated that they “have launched a salvo of missiles striking sensitive targets of the Israeli enemy” in the port city of Yafo, south of Tel Aviv, claiming that the operation “achieved its objectives accurately,” and adding that their “military operations will continue to intensify in line with developments, the [regional] front, and coordination” with allies in the Iran-led Axis.
The statement by the Houthis comes shortly after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday said it “targeted with ballistic missiles” the Ramat David airbase in northern Israel, which it claimed was the site from which military operations were launched against several cities in southern Lebanon, as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, where many Hezbollah loyalists reside.
“Tonight’s operation was merely a warning, and in the event of continued aggression, the response will be far more extensive and will encompass all American-Zionist [Israeli] targets across the region,” the IRGC statement said.
For its part, Israel said it intercepted “all missiles launched from Iran,” according to Israeli military Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee in a statement on X.
In a series of statements, Adraee further detailed that the Israeli Air Force targeted “Iranian military-linked assets across western and central Iran,” including the Mahshahr petrochemical complex, which he said was “used for producing materials for Iran’s ballistic missile program,” as well as several strategic air-defense systems deployed across various locations.
He further noted that “dozens of aircraft carried out a wide-scale coordinated campaign,” conducting multiple operations that also destroyed additional air-defense installations, with “secondary explosions reported,” indicating the presence of stored missiles at some sites.
Moreover, Israeli defenses intercepted a missile launched from Yemen toward Israel, Adraee also said.
Following Tel Aviv’s response, the IRGC said it struck “key centers of the strategic Nevatim and Tel Nof airbases” in southern and southeastern Israel, respectively, adding that the operation “was carried out in response” to Israeli strikes on “several radar sites in three locations across the country.”
It further stated that “all combat and operational units” of the IRGC “have prepared action plans commensurate with the [Israeli] enemy’s scenarios.”
Importantly, both sides said on Monday that hostilities between them had halted.
The announcements came shortly after US President Donald Trump said that Iran and Israel were seeking an “immediate CEASEFIRE,” noting that “Final negotiations on ‘Peace’ are proceeding, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way,” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
The Iranian attacks on Israeli sites notably came days after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated on Wednesday, “We have explicitly declared to all concerned parties that an attack on Beirut is a blatant act of aggression, and we will not remain silent in the face of it.”
“In the event of continued Israeli aggression against Beirut, our armed forces are fully prepared to resume the war and strike targets inside Israel,” he warned during an interview with the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency.
In remarks made last week, the Iranian chief diplomat also stated that Israeli strikes in Lebanon violate the ceasefire agreement with the United States, which Pakistan brokered in early April and which Aragchi said covers “all fronts,” including Lebanon.
However, Israel has repeatedly rejected any such linkage, with Defense Minister Israel Katz affirming on Monday that Israeli forces “will continue to operate in Lebanon against the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” adding that Israel would strike Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh district, “in retaliation for every attack on northern Israel.”
For their part, the Houthis’ “complete and total ban” on Israeli maritime navigation, as well as their missile attacks on Israel announced on Monday, appear to be continuing regardless.
Of note, the resumption of attacks by the Yemeni group on Israel comes just over seven months after they had halted their operations against Tel Aviv following the Gaza ceasefire in October 2025.
Following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, the Houthis launched a campaign a month later in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, repeatedly targeting commercial vessels they claimed were Israeli-owned or bound for Israel, in addition to firing drones and missiles toward Israeli territory.
In their Monday statement, the Yemeni group said it would not “stand idle” in the face of the escalation across the region, where their ‘Axis of Resistance’ allies are active.
