Iran and US escalate threats as Houthi attacks intensify regional tensions

Off the coast of Yemen, a regional proxy conflict has crossed into something more direct: Houthi attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea have drawn American military responses, which have in turn drawn explicit warnings from Iran, binding two longtime adversaries in a cycle neither seems willing to break. The confrontation unfolds against a Middle East already strained by overlapping crises, where every action is read not just by its intended audience but by the full constellation of regional powers recalibrating their positions. What hangs in the balance is not merely a ship