Iranian-backed forces launched attacks across three countries this week, killing at least 30 Yemeni government troops and wounding two Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, even as Tehran claimed progress on an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The escalation underscored the gap between diplomatic gestures and the reality of Iran's regional proxy network, which continues to operate with impunity despite international pressure.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said Wednesday that an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz with Oman was in the "final stage" of drafting. He said a joint statement would be issued "if certain parties do not obstruct this process," apparently referring to the U.S. The agreement is likely to depend on the U.S. lifting its blockade on Iran's ports. Asked Thursday if a deal had been reached with Iran to reopen the vital waterway, U.S. President Donald Trump said he didn't want to say. "It has been sort of open right now," he told reporters in the Oval Office. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said Thursday that any temporary routes through the Strait of Hormuz would not have impediments such as approvals, permissions, tolls or charges.
The Strait's Strategic Chokepoint
The strait remains crucial to global shipping and energy supplies. Before the war, which began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in February, about one-fifth of the world's traded oil and natural gas passed through the waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Maritime data company Lloyd's List Intelligence said at least two ships were hit in the Strait of Hormuz in the past week, while several others reported near misses or warnings from entities claiming to represent Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz increased to 84 transits during the week of July 27 to Aug. 2, up from 45 the previous week, but traffic was still far below the more than 700 transits seen in a typical week before the crisis. The company said Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels continued to claim attacks on ships in the Red Sea, though those claims could not be independently verified.
Yemen's Escalating Violence
In Yemen, more than 10 civilians, including a 4-year-old child, were injured in Saudi Arabia on Thursday after a series of attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels, according to the Saudi military. The attacks took place in the southern region of Najran, near the Yemeni border, hours after the Iran-backed rebels claimed responsibility for another series of strikes in central and eastern Yemen that killed at least 30 government troops and wounded at least 50 others. The back-to-back attacks marked a major escalation since a truce in 2022 largely halted fighting. Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi military, said the later attack wounded seven Saudi nationals, one Yemeni, two Egyptians and one Pakistani expatriate. The Houthis did not release any statement.
The civil war pits the Iran-backed Houthis against a Saudi-led coalition allied with Yemen's internationally recognized government. A Houthi leader said Saudi-backed troops were targeted in the attacks and that "hundreds" were either killed or injured. Yemeni officials said the assaults hit camps for forces of the internationally recognized government in the provinces of Marib and Hadramout. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year.
Lebanon's Fragile Ceasefire Cracks
Two Israeli soldiers were killed and another four were seriously wounded in an explosion in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military said Thursday. The deaths were Israel's first since a shaky truce was implemented in June between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The Israeli army launched strikes Wednesday in southern Lebanon in response to what it described as Hezbollah's violation of the ceasefire and issued a call for residents of another village to flee, the first such warning Israel had issued in weeks. The escalation came as Lebanese and Israeli negotiators met in Rome to discuss implementation of the June deal under which Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw from areas they occupy in southern Lebanon in exchange for Hezbollah's disarmament.
Regional Security Realignments
Iraq said Thursday that any armed activity outside state authority after Sept. 30 would be prosecuted under the country's Anti-Terrorism Law, in a push to bring all weapons under government control. Several powerful, Iran-backed armed factions rejected calls to surrender weapons or dissolve their organizations, saying they remained committed to the "option of resistance." Saudi Arabia and the U.S. launched strikes on Iraq last week after Riyadh accused Iraqi militias of using drones to attack its oil facilities. The retaliatory strikes in Iraq hit bases of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a collection of armed groups close to Iran that are officially part of Iraq's security forces but often operate outside state control.
Ugandan authorities won parliamentary approval Thursday to deploy troops as part of the International Stabilization Force for Gaza. The 20,000-strong force, proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace in February to ensure "future prosperity and enduring peace," has not yet materialized. Several other countries pledged troops to the mission, including Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Albania and Indonesia, which has since put its commitment of troops on indefinite hold. The Gaza ceasefire has stalled, as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that Israel would not withdraw from its current lines in Gaza until Hamas had completely disarmed.
Why This Matters:
The coordinated violence across Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq reveals the strategic challenge of negotiating with Tehran while its proxy network operates across borders. Iran's willingness to discuss the Strait of Hormuz doesn't translate into control over Hezbollah, the Houthis, or Iraqi militias who see themselves as independent resistance movements. Israel's insistence on Hezbollah's disarmament and Hamas's complete surrender of weapons reflects hard-won lessons from previous withdrawals that left power vacuums filled by Iranian-backed forces. The collapse of the Gaza stabilization force proposal and Indonesia's withdrawal underscore the international community's reluctance to commit troops to enforce agreements that Palestinian factions have historically rejected. Iraq's Sept. 30 deadline for militia disarmament tests whether any government in the region can assert sovereignty over Iranian proxies without triggering direct confrontation with Tehran. The Strait of Hormuz negotiations may ease one pressure point, but they don't address the broader architecture of Iranian influence that continues to destabilize the region.