As Iran-backed Houthis enter the war, 2,500 U.S. Marines arrive in Mideast

DUBAI — Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the month-old war in the Middle East on Saturday, claiming two missile launches at Israel, as about 2,500 U.S. Marines arrived in the region and Pakistan’s government said that regional powers plan to meet Sunday to discuss how to end the fighting.

The war has threatened global supplies of oil and natural gas, sparked fertilizer shortages and disrupted air travel. Iran’s grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices. The United States and Israel continue to strike Iran, whose retaliatory attacks have targeted Israel and neighboring gulf Arab states. More than 3,000 people have been killed.

The Houthis’ entry could further hinder global shipping if they again target vessels — as during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza — in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Red Sea, through which about 12% of the world’s trade typically passes.

There could be limited relief after Iran on Friday agreed to allow humanitarian aid and agricultural shipments through the Strait of Hormuz following a United Nations request. President Trump has given Iran until April 6 to reopen the strait.

Witnesses in Tehran reported heavy strikes late Saturday. Israel’s military earlier said that it targeted Iran’s naval weapons production facilities and that it would finish attacking essential weapons production sites within “a few days.” Iran fired missiles toward Israel. The U.S. said that it has struck more than 11,000 Iranian targets in the war.

And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited gulf Arab nations as his country offers defense help with drones.

Houthi involvement raises concerns

Houthi Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said on the rebels’ Al-Masirah satellite television station Saturday that the Houthis launched a barrage of ballistic missiles toward what he described as “sensitive Israeli military sites” in southern Israel.

If the Houthis accelerate attacks on commercial shipping, it would further push up oil prices and destabilize “all of maritime security,” said Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group. “The impact would not be limited to the energy market.”

The Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is crucial as it controls traffic for vessels heading to the Suez Canal through the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through it since Iran has essentially closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Houthi rebels attacked more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels, between November 2023 and January 2025, saying that it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.

The Houthis’ involvement would complicate the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the aircraft carrier that arrived in Croatia Saturday for maintenance. Sending it to the Red Sea could draw attacks similar to those against the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in 2024 and the USS Harry S. Truman in 2025.

The Houthis have held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014. Saudi Arabia launched a war against the Houthis on behalf of Yemen’s exiled government in 2015, and the two sides now have an uneasy ceasefire.

Attempts at diplomacy

Pakistan said that Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt will send their top diplomats to Islamabad for talks aimed at ending the war, arriving Sunday for a two-day visit. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Saturday that he and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held “extensive discussions” on regional hostilities.

But Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Turkish counterpart by phone that Tehran was skeptical about recent diplomatic efforts to stop the war. Iranian state-run media reported that Araghchi accused the United States of making “unreasonable demands” and exhibiting “contradictory actions.”

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar later spoke with Araghchi and urged “an end to all attacks and hostilities.”

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff has said Washington delivered a 15-point “action list” to Iran for a possible ceasefire, with a proposal to restrict Iran’s nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran rejected it and presented its own five-point proposal that included reparations and recognition of its sovereignty over the waterway.

Meanwhile, U.S. ships with around 2,500 Marines trained in amphibious landings have arrived, adding to the largest American force in the region in more than two decades. And at least 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, trained to land in hostile territory to secure key positions and airfields, have been ordered to the Middle East.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. “can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops.”

U.S. troops wounded at Saudi base

More than two dozen U.S. troops have been wounded in Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base in the last week, according to two people briefed on the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to comment publicly.

Iran fired six ballistic missiles and 29 drones at the base Friday, injuring at least 15 troops, five of them seriously, they said.

The base, about 60 miles from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, was attacked twice earlier in the week, including a strike that wounded 14 U.S. troops, according to the people briefed on the matter.

More than 300 U.S. service members have been wounded in the war. At least 13 have been reported killed.

Death toll climbs

Iranian authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed in the Islamic Republic since the start of the war, while Israeli authorities report that 19 have been killed in Israel.

In Lebanon, where Israel has started an invasion in the south, officials said more than 1,100 people have been killed.

In Iraq, where Iranian-supported militia groups have entered the conflict, 80 members of the security forces have died.

Twenty people have been killed in Iranian attacks in gulf states and four others in the occupied West Bank.

Magdy, Madhani and Gambrell write for the Associated Press and reported from Cairo, Washington and Dubai, respectively. AP writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington; Cara Anna in Lowville, N.Y.; and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan; contributed to this report.