Iran directly involved in Yemen Houthi rebel ship attacks – US navy chief

Vice Adm Cooper acknowledged 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.

US navy Vice Adm Brad Cooper heads the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet (AP)

Iran is “very directly involved” in ship attacks that Yemen’s Houthi rebels have carried out during Israel’s war against Hamas, the US navy’s top commander in the Middle East has said.

However, 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.