Navy says Iran is ‘directly involved’ in Yemen’s Houthi rebel attacks

JERUSALEM — The U.S. Navy’s top Mideast commander says Iran is “very directly involved” in ship attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels during Israel’s war against Hamas.

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the Navy’s 5th Fleet, stopped short of saying Tehran directed individual attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The Houthis link their attacks to the Israel-Hamas war.

However, Cooper acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday that attacks associated with Iran have expanded from previously threatening just the Persian Gulf and its Strait of Hormuz into waters across the wider Middle East.

He described the Houthi attacks as the most significant hostile actions against merchant shipping in two generations.

In recent days, the U.S. has launched seven rounds of airstrikes on Houthi military sites, targeting air bases under the rebels’ control and suspected missile launch sites.

So far, Iran has not directly gotten involved in fighting either Israel or the U.S. since the war in Gaza began on Oct. 7. However, Cooper maintained Iran had been directly fueling the Houthi attacks on shipping.

“What I’ll say is Iran is clearly funding, they’re resourcing, they are supplying and they’re providing training,” Cooper said. “They’re obviously very directly involved. There’s no secret there.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. has hit Iraqi airline Fly Baghdad and its CEO with sanctions for allegedly providing assistance to Iran’s military wing.

Additionally, the U.S. has imposed a fifth round of sanctions on the terrorist group Hamas for its abuse of cryptocurrency since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

In the new sanctions announced Monday, Treasury said Fly Baghdad and its CEO Basheer Abdulkadhim Alwan al-Shabbani have provided assistance to Iran’s military wing and its proxy groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. A representative from the firm was not immediately available.

The sanctions block access to U.S. property and bank accounts and prevent the targeted people and companies from doing business with Americans.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also designated three leaders and supporters of an Iran-aligned militia in Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah, as well as a business that it says moves and launders funds for the organization.

Fly Baghdad denied the U.S. allegations and said it would take legal action to demand compensation for losses resulting from the sanctions “as it is clear that the decision was based on misleading and false information and cannot stand before the law.”