Iran accuses US of attack on oil tanker amid escalating tensions in the Middle East

Iran accused the United States on Saturday (5) of attacking an Iranian oil tanker near the island of Kharg, in the Persian Gulf, increasing tensions between the two countries after the resumption of clashes last week. Washington has not commented on the accusation, and there have been no reports of retaliation.

Meanwhile, violence has also increased on other fronts in the Middle East, with new attacks in Yemen and Lebanon and criticism from the US ambassador to Israel of the actions of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

The United States ambassador to Israel once again condemned the violence carried out by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and classified the actions as "acts of terror".

This Saturday, Mike Huckabee called the settlers "terrorists", a term that American authorities usually use to refer to Palestinian militants. He was speaking to Palestinian-American residents in the village of Turmus Ayya.

"If there are illegal occupants who come in, raise their own flags and take something that doesn't belong to them, if they burn a car, if they burn down a mosque, if they break into someone's house and vandalize it, spray graffiti on the walls, that's a criminal act. But it goes beyond a criminal act. It's an act of terror," Huckabee said.

Last month, the ambassador had already criticized settler violence after weeks of unrest in the city of Qusra, where several homes, including that of a Palestinian-American, were surrounded.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the actions of a "small group of violent protesters", while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs classified the actions of the settlers as "a shame".

Netanyahu's government, considered the most ultranationalist and religious in Israel's history, expanded the construction of settlements in the West Bank. Most of the international community considers these settlements to be illegal.

Houthis accuse Yemeni government of killing three people

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels say Yemeni government forces have killed at least three people in the west and southwest of the country.

The attacks took place on Friday (4), in the provinces of Hodeida and Taiz, on the same day that the Yemeni Army reported having carried out more than 15 bombings against Houthi positions.

According to Houthi authorities in Hodeida, a father and his daughter died after an attack on the family home in Jarahi district. In Taiz, shelling killed one man and injured another, according to the rebel-controlled Al-Masirah broadcaster.

Fighting has intensified in recent weeks along Yemen's west coast, near a key maritime supply route.

Israeli attacks kill three people in Lebanon

Lebanon's Health Ministry said Israeli strikes killed three people and injured nearly 20 in the south of the country and the east of the Bekaa Valley.

The Israeli Army said it attacked Hezbollah positions on Friday night in response to the launch of a drone at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. According to the military, the equipment was intercepted and no soldiers were injured.

In June, Lebanon and Israel signed a framework agreement mediated by the United States, which provides for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied areas in the south of Lebanese territory in exchange for the disarmament of Hezbollah, a group supported by Iran.

Since then, however, there has been little progress, and Hezbollah continues to reject direct negotiations between the two countries.

The current war between Israel and Hezbollah began when the group launched rockets into Israel days after Israel and the United States attacked Iran on February 28. Since then, Israeli troops have occupied a wide swath of southern Lebanon.

Egyptian Chancellor defends resumption of negotiations

Egypt's Foreign Minister, Badr Abdelatty, defended this Saturday the resumption of negotiations between the United States and Iran.

The appeal was made during separate telephone conversations with the foreign ministers of Bahrain and Oman, a country located across the Strait of Hormuz.

According to Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abdelatty stated that the priority must be reducing tensions and called for maintaining safe navigation in the strait, where traffic remains reduced while Iran maintains control of the waterway.