US in secret talks with Iran over Red Sea attacks In a bid to end Houthis' strikes

 

The indirect negotiations, during which Washington also raised concerns about Iran’s expanding nuclear programme, took place in Oman in January and were the first between the foes in 10 months, The Financial Times reports citing the officials.

 

The US delegation was led by the White House’s Middle East adviser Brett McGurk and its Iran envoy Abram Paley.

 

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, who is also Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator, represented the Islamic Republic.

 

Omani officials shuttled between the Iranian and American representatives so they did not speak directly, the officials said.

The talks underline how the Biden administration is using diplomatic channels with its foe, alongside military deterrents, in a bid to de-escalate a wave of regional hostilities involving Iranian-backed militant groups that was triggered by the Israel-Hamas war.

US officials see an indirect channel with Iran as “a method for raising the full range of threats emanating from Iran”, a person familiar with the matter said. That included conveying “what they need to do in order to prevent a wider conflict, as they claim to want”.

 

Since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel triggered the war, Iran-backed Hizbollah, the Lebanese militant movement, has traded daily cross-border fire with Israel; the Houthis have attacked dozens of ships, including merchant shipping and US naval vessels; and Iranian-aligned Iraqi militias have launched scores of missiles and drones against American forces in Iraq and Syria.

 

Amid unleashing warfare in the Red Sea, it became known that Yemen's Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, had carried out a test flight of a hypersonic missile with high destructive capability.

 

The movement is preparing to add these missiles to its military arsenal, a military source close to the movement has told Sputnik.

 

"Missile forces of the movement have successfully tested a missile that can reach speeds of up to Mach 8 [10,000 kilometres per hour or 6,200 miles per hour] and is powered by solid fuel. Yemen plans to begin manufacturing it for use in attacks in the Red and Arabian Seas and the Gulf of Aden, as well as against targets in Israel," the source said.

 

At the same time as the hypersonic missile test, the armed forces in northern Yemen upgraded their missiles and drones, having modified the explosive warheads to double their destructive power, after a test that lasted three months, the source added.

 

Last Thursday, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi spoke about the movement's efforts to produce hypersonic missiles, saying that "our enemies, friends and our people will see a level of achievement of strategic importance that will place our country in terms of its capabilities among the few countries in this world."

 

He then said that Yemen's forces have used new weapons in recent operations in the Red and Arabian Seas, which "surprised the US and the UK." He added that the movement attacked 61 vessels and a military ship since the Palestinian movement Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

 

Nevertheless, the US continues to successfully repel attacks by the Houthis.

On March 13, US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported the destruction of four drones and one air-to-ground missile inside Yemen.

 

"Between 2:00 a.m. and 4:50 p.m. (Sanaa time) on March 13, Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists fired one anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the Gulf of Aden. The missile did not impact any vessels and there were no injuries or damage reported," CENTCOM said on X.