Iran claims aluminium plant attacks in Gulf as Houthis join war

Iran claimed on Sunday attacks on two major aluminium plants in the Gulf, further raising the economic stakes of the Middle East war after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis joined the conflict.

The war that began on February 28 with U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran has mushroomed throughout the region, sending world energy markets into a tailspin and threatening to torpedo the global economy.

With the official status of talks between Washington and Tehran uncertain and ahead of a meeting in Pakistan on Monday with key regional players, daily salvos of strikes across the region have continued unabated.

In the Iranian capital Tehran, two blasts shook the city early Sunday, according to an AFP journalist, although it was not clear what was targeted.

The Qatari news channel Al Araby said an Israeli missile hit the building housing its office in Tehran.

Footage from inside the office showed broken windows and shattered glass. Outside the building, images showed the streets covered in debris along with damage to surrounding buildings.

"I miss a peaceful night's sleep," an artist in Tehran told AFP, saying strikes the previous night were "so intense it felt like all of Tehran was shaking".

Iranian state media reported that U.S.-Israeli strikes also hit a quay in the port city of Bandar Khamir, near the strategic Strait of Hormuz which Iran says it has closed to shipping from hostile powers.

Iran for its part fired a volley of missiles and drones at plants belonging to two of the world's largest aluminium producers in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, the country's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday, targeting what they described as industries linked to the U.S. military.

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) said an Iranian attack wounded six and caused significant damage to its plant, while Bahraini state media said two Aluminium Bahrain (ALBA) employees were injured in a second attack.

As the specter of a widening conflict grew, Yemen's Houthis on Saturday claimed their first attack of the war, before the rebels said they fired "a barrage of cruise missiles and drones" at strategic sites in Israel.

The attacks raised concern about the war spreading to the Red Sea, with Saudi Arabia rerouting much of its oil exports there to avoid Hormuz.

During Israel's recent war in Gaza, the Houthis, claiming solidarity with Palestinians, attacked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, forcing companies to take costly detours.

Iran's neighbor Iraq too has increasingly been drawn into the conflict.

In Syria, authorities said Sunday they had repelled a drone attack from Iraq targeting a U.S. military base, which comes after a series of strikes that have been claimed by pro-Tehran Iraqi groups.

Pakistan mediation

Pakistan, acting as a go-between for Washington and Tehran, will host foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt in Islamabad on Monday for talks on the crisis.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said "dialogue and diplomacy remain the only viable path for lasting peace" in a call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Pakistan's foreign ministry said on Sunday.

Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Friday he expected a direct U.S.-Iran meeting in Pakistan "very soon".

U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff also said such a meeting could take place soon, and promoted a 15-point plan that Washington says "could solve it all".

Still, the USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying around 3,500 Marines and sailors, arrived in the Middle East on Friday.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said in an interview published Saturday that the U.S. has "accomplished all its military objectives" in Iran but the war must carry on "a little while longer".

His comments came as The Washington Post reported the Pentagon was preparing plans for weeks of ground operations -- potentially including raids on Kharg Island and sites near the Strait of Hormuz -- though Trump has yet to approve any deployment.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards meanwhile threatened Sunday to strike U.S. university campuses in the Middle East unless Washington officially condemned U.S.-Israeli attacks on two Iranian universities.

Three journalists killed

On another front, Israeli attacks have continued in Lebanon, which was drawn into the conflict when Tehran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli territory on March 2.

On Saturday, the Israeli military killed three journalists in the south.

Lebanese authorities, including President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, condemned the killings as war crimes. Israel also carried out raids in southern Lebanon that killed nine paramedics, according to the health ministry.

On Sunday the Israeli army announced the death in combat of one of its soldiers in south Lebanon.

At a vocational institute north of the capital Beirut, displaced mother Nasima Ismail signed up her children for services despite a lack of resources as the war interrupts education for hundreds of thousands of students.

"I want them to complete their education, even if we are left with nothing," she said.

"I wish them days better than ours."