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Iran is deliberately targeting U.S. naval drones in the Strait of Hormuz to gather intelligence on American surveillance capabilities and learn how to evade U.S. defenses, drone experts warned Tuesday.

Tehran’s strategy is coordinated, they said, and involves exposing critical insights into U.S. Navy theater operations in the world’s most vulnerable maritime choke point even when classified data is uncompromised.

The warning came as tensions escalated in the Gulf region Sept. 14 after the U.S. military destroyed two Iranian small boats amid an attempted seizure by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of an American unmanned surface vessel (USV) patrolling the area, according to reports.

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Iranian state media initially said the incident was a U.S. strike on civilian fishing vessels while its officials reported search-and-rescue operations off the coast of Kargan and near Larak Island, claiming local fishermen were missing.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins confirmed the attempted seizure on Tuesday.

"Iranian small boats recently attempted to take possession of a U.S. unmanned surface vessel, but they were unsuccessful after CENTCOM forcefully responded," Hawkins said.

"The surface drone remains under U.S. operational control."

"What’s going on with drones generally in the Strait right now—when we see all these types of intel capture missions that Iran is launching—we need to make no mistake that these are very coordinated, absolutely deliberate drone capture missions," Cameron Chell, CEO of U.S. drone manufacturer Draganfly, told Fox News Digital.

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Chell warned that even a brief examination of a captured drone provides Tehran with a quick win by revealing how the U.S. conducts surveillance and how to counter those systems.

"If Iran captures a drone, it could give them an immediate tactical advantage," Chell said.

"It may not yield specific classified data, but it gives insight into the theater of operations, which at any given moment offers an advantage. I wouldn’t doubt it for a heartbeat that it is escalating." 

"Just getting little tidbits of intel starts to paint a picture, giving them different attack plans, battle plans, and thoughts on what the U.S. might be doing. I would be very surprised if this wasn’t an ongoing effort."

WHO CONTROLS THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ RIGHT NOW? HERE'S WHAT THE SHIP TRAFFIC ACTUALLY SHOWS

Iran's attempts to capture drones underscore growing security volatility in the Strait of Hormuz, the vital international shipping lane where commercial transit has fallen below historic levels since the war broke out in February.

Chell emphasized that any access to captured hardware over the last six months would allow Iranian forces to evaluate sensitive onboard sensors.

"It really speaks to the bigger picture of how the whole intelligence infrastructure works of, say, the Navy, for example," Chell said.

"The other important thing is that when they get their hands on these drones—even if they’re only able to spend some time glimpsing at them before they have to evacuate or abort a mission—is they get a real understanding of the types of sensors on them."

IRAN SAYS ITS SMALL SUBS DEPLOYED TO STRAIT OF HORMUZ AS EXPERT EXPLAINS THREAT: ‘VULNERABLE TO DETECTION’

"That gives them a complete picture of how they can launch attacks and evade the type of sensing equipment out there," Chell continued.

"They can understand how to counter or measure the intelligence being gathered, and potentially use that design offensively in their own equipment."

The latest escalation also follows a Sept. 8 incident involving Iran’s capture of a Dive-LD autonomous underwater drone manufactured by defense contractor Anduril.

While Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey said the drone was designed to operate in "environments too dangerous for humans where capture is an expected possibility."

"I can't get into the details, but it provided significant value for months before capture," Luckey dded.

IRAN’S DRONE SWARMS CHALLENGE US AIR DEFENSES AS TROOPS IN MIDDLE EAST FACE RISING THREATS

"Unboxing ceremony by our reverse engineers, tomorrow morning!" Iran’s embassy in Hyderabad also wrote on X.

U.S. Navy representatives however, said the recovered drone was an older model that had malfunctioned and gone dead in the water.

"The U.S. being alert to the fact that these are high-value targets dictates where and how they use and protect them," Chell noted.

"I don’t doubt that the captured underwater drone had sensitive information on it, but that’s not the point. Again, the point is, they want to see the type of equipment and information being gathered, or view logs to see where it has been. This all just puts the U.S. on higher alert."

Tehran has previously leveraged captured U.S. assets—including an RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone seized in 2011—to bolster domestic technology and regional propaganda.

Then-President Barack Obama publicly asked Tehran to return the aircraft. Iran later claimed it reverse-engineered the platform to build domestic lookalikes.

In 2022, a U.S. Navy patrol ship and an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter intercepted an Iranian naval vessel attempting to tow a Saildrone surface vessel in the Gulf.

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"Iran actually has a history of attempting this in the past, and at times has been successful," Chell said, noting Washington takes the threat "very, very seriously."

"In other instances where they’ve gotten sail ship drones, for example, and tried to bring them into Iranian territory—" Chell said, pointing back to the RQ-170 seizure: "a number of Iranian drones look suspiciously like the RQ line."

"Still, when the U.S. knows a drone has been captured, they adjust their tactics and operational overview accordingly," Chell, whose firm has been awarded a five-year contract by the Government of Canada to provide low-cost tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance uncrewed aircraft systems to the Canadian Armed Forces, concluded.

"There is no question that autonomy and unmanned systems are the new standard in warfare," Chell said.

Taraneh and Romina Rahimi were 19, still in high school and living with their mother when masked men came for them in the middle of the night.

According to their U.S.-based cousin, the twin sisters were dragged from their beds with bags placed over their heads about a month after they joined anti-regime protests in Isfahan. Their family was given no explanation and spent months searching courts, hospitals and government offices trying to determine where they had been taken.

Four months later, their mother, Marzieh Nourmohammadi, was finally allowed to see them at Dowlatabad Prison. She barely recognized her daughters.

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Their cousin, Masoud Nourmohammadi, told The Guardian that the twins had badly swollen and bruised faces, injuries to their elbows, hands and feet, and significant hair loss that he said resulted from guards pulling them by their hair as they were moved between cells. He said their mother also learned that the sisters had been held in solitary confinement.

Now 20, Taraneh Rahimi faces execution over her alleged role in the January protests, while her twin sister could spend decades in prison, in a case unfolding amid a sharp rise in Iran’s use of the death penalty.

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that Taraneh was sentenced to death and an additional 11 years in prison, while Romina received a 36-year sentence. The sentences were issued by Branch 1 of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court and remain initial-stage verdicts.

The twins are among 16 defendants prosecuted in what has become known as the "Isfahan Shohada Square" case. HRANA said 10 defendants received death sentences and the 16 defendants collectively received 256 years in prison.

The sisters’ family says the abuse was intended to force confessions.

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Nourmohammadi told The Guardian that Taraneh was threatened that prison guards would rape Romina in front of her unless she signed a confession. The outlet reported that Taraneh later told the court that admissions attributed to her had been obtained through torture. Her mother was not permitted to attend the trial, according to the family.

Radio Farda separately reported, citing Nourmohammadi, that the sisters suffered physical and psychological abuse and were forced to confess to accusations they deny. The Hana Human Rights Organization told Fox News Digital they have verified the torture allegations.

Concerns about torture extend beyond the sisters. HRANA reported that another defendant in the same case, Ahmadreza Saeidi, told judges during the hearing that the investigating judge personally used an electric stun gun on his neck and genitals. Defense lawyers also reportedly complained that they had not been given access to substantial portions of the case file or adequate time to examine evidence before trial.

The sentences come as rights organizations document a sharp rise in executions across Iran.

COULD NARGES MOHAMMADI UNITE IRAN’S OPPOSITION? HUSBAND SAYS IMPRISONED NOBEL LAUREATE STILL FIGHTING

The Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran documented 901 executions during the first seven months of 2026, including 56 people executed on political or national-security charges.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran program senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that the executions should be viewed as part of a broader campaign by Tehran to suppress dissent at home.

"Despite the war in the region, despite the drone war, the missile war, the war over the Strait of Hormuz, the real war is the one that's happening on a day-to-day basis inside the Islamic Republic," Ben Taleblu said. "The Islamic Republic is quite literally cracking skulls, cracking down on civil society, on dissidents, on protesters."

Among those imprisoned in Iran’s broader crackdown is Seyed Ahmad Seyedabdollahi, a 32-year-old psychologist whose case Fox News Digital reported in August.

Seyedabdollahi posted an English-language video on Jan. 4 appealing directly to President Donald Trump to support Iranian protesters, according to his relatives and Fox News Digital’s previous reporting. He was arrested 10 days later and ultimately sentenced to seven months in prison and barred from government and public services for five years.

His relatives told Fox News Digital that Iranian authorities later pressured him to record another video insulting Trump and Americans and alleged that he was subjected to solitary confinement and torture.

The Hana Human Rights Organization reported Aug. 9 that Seyedabdollahi had been held in Borujen Prison since July 7 and that authorities opened a second case against him on a charge of "propaganda against the system of the Islamic Republic." Hana also confirmed that he was serving a seven-month sentence and had received a five-year disqualification from public and governmental services.

His relatives confirmed to Fox News Digital that authorities have continued pressuring him to say he was a "foreign agent" paid by the U.S. government. They also said authorities revoked his professional license, adding financial pressure on his family.

Ben Taleblu said Tehran has followed a similar pattern after previous periods of external conflict, turning its attention inward against perceived opponents.

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"We saw this trend in the aftermath of the 12-day war as well," Ben Taleblu said. "Lose a war abroad, come home and pretend like you're the victor."

"Simply here, the Islamic Republic is continuing the longest war it's ever fought, which is the 47-year war against the Iranian people," he added.

Wednesday marks four years since the Sept. 16, 2022, death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who was detained three days earlier by Iran’s morality police over what authorities described as "improper hijab." Her death sparked nationwide protests that became known internationally as the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement. The U.N. said reports that Amini had been beaten in custody warranted an independent investigation, while Iranian authorities maintained that she died of "natural causes."

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The 2022 uprising was itself part of a longer cycle of unrest. Nationwide demonstrations beginning in December 2017 rapidly spread across Iran and represented the largest challenge to the government since the 2009 Green Movement. The 2017-18 protests were followed by another major nationwide wave in 2019 and then the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising.

Ben Taleblu argued that whenever another major protest movement emerges, Western governments should be prepared to help Iranians communicate with one another and the outside world, particularly when authorities shut down internet access.

"We know every single time another major protest is happening, the way the regime cracks down is to first turn off the internet," he said. "That means the regime fears what comes of coordination between Iranians and fears what comes of when the Iranians are able to send their message outside to the international community."

"The partners of the Iranian people, America, Israel, the West, these are largely all cyber superpowers," Ben Taleblu said. "We should not let the Iranian people continue to die in the darkness."

It's known as the "Red-Green Alliance" — a political coalition between Europe's far-left parties and Islamist groups that is increasingly shaping policy, particularly regarding Israel as the continent experiences a worrying rise in antisemitism that critics are linking to this partnership. 

With the rise of Muslim voters across Europe, many on the left and extreme-left are being influenced by this increasingly important voting bloc. 

Just last week in the U.K., critics accused the left-wing Labour government of sanctioning Israel as a ploy to win back Muslim voters from the far-left, anti-Israel Green and Independent parties. Conservative lawmaker Tom Tugendhat called the sanctions' announcement "performative politics."

In Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Sweden, exit polling from the state broadcaster shows that votes from non-European Swedes are giving an alliance of left-wing parties a narrow three-seat lead over a right-leaning coalition led by current Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

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One Swedish political researcher, Tobias Hübinette, pointed to Mayor Zohran Mamdani's win in New York City and said that the numbers in the Swedish election show a growing divide not only between rural and urban voters but that this "election meant a 'Mamdanification' of urban Sweden, and the gap between city and country is now larger than ever before," he wrote on X.

"They should be in disagreement," Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, the senior envoy to Europe at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Fox News Digital, "but the Islamists are very capable of covering that up for political purposes… The antisemitism that we have today, in particular in Western Europe, is definitely fed far more (by) the far left's discourse."

Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society Executive Director in the U.K. said that, "For a decade, Europe has trained its anxieties almost exclusively on the far-right, and while that vigilance is warranted, it has left a blind spot on the other flank… Antisemitism is not less dangerous because it arrives waving a progressive banner."

Germany-based Dresden University of Technology research fellow Janek Treiber said that, "There is indeed an intriguing alliance between the supposedly progressive Left and regressive forces within Islamism." He told Fox News Digital that, "The unifying factor is a kind of victimization narrative. For the Left that supports the Palestinian cause, Muslims are the oppressed and the West – including Israel – are the oppressors… Whether Muslims hold conservative-religious views in this context is irrelevant."

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Voters in Berlin head to the ballot box this coming Sunday, with polls showing the far-left Die Linke party, literally translated as the "The Left", leading the center-right Christian Democratic Union by two points.

"In Berlin, a party polling at the top of the field has factions that share platforms, demonstrations and slogans with networks the German security services themselves link to Hamas and the PFLP," Mendoza claimed. "When 'Death to the IDF' and 'Intifada' are chanted at an election event, and the response from parts of the party is to defend the man who led them, the red line has been erased, not crossed."

Rodan-Benzaquen says that while Germany’s political "firewall" against far-right parties like the AfD "seems to work more or less on the right, it doesn't on the left," because, "there is a perception that whatever comes from the left, even the far-left, is not morally as repugnant as anything that comes from the right."

ANTISEMITIC VIOLENCE REACHES DEADLIEST LEVEL SINCE 1994, NEW GLOBAL REPORT FINDS

Germany and the U.K. are not alone. The far-left Sumar party in Spain is part of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s ruling coalition. Their support in the last election was strongest in areas with high Muslim populations, with party members attending demonstrations with Muslim Brotherhood-adjacent groups and Gaza protests organized by Islamist-leaning networks. Members have also pushed for Spain to recognize a Palestinian state while also referring to Israel as an "apartheid state." Spain recognized a Palestinian state in 2024.

The far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party in France has been accused by academics and ministers of "Islamo‑leftism" after their de facto leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization and party members marched with Islamist-linked NGOs during Gaza protests. The LFI’s popularity has been on the rise in polling ahead of next year’s presidential election and, according to French newspaper Le Monde, the LFI’s electoral strength lies in Muslim-majority suburban districts.

The Israeli Ambassador to France, Joshua Zarka, recently told Fox News Digital that, "The way [LFI leader] Jean-Luc Mélenchon speaks in front of a crowd reminds me of Hitler. The way he uses the idea of uniting against one enemy by speaking of Israel is similar to the way Hitler used to speak about the Jews."

In the U.K. commenting on the sanctions imposed by the government on Israel, Britain's Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis called the announcement on X "a truly dark day for British Jews." His statement continued in part, "Gesture politics of this kind feeds into an increasingly hostile discourse about Israel," he wrote, warning that the cumulative effect of such policies could "further embolden those, at home and abroad, who use hatred as a weapon against Jews."

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Pointing to the U.K., Rodan-Benzaquen said the alliance grew while Jeremy Corbyn was the Labour Party leader. "You have this far left anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist, opposition to American power and, of course, to Israel itself. An alliance with Islamist organizations and movements that sort of adopt a common language, despite the fact that on many topics they are in certain disagreement… They have basically turned themselves from a party that cared about class, that cared about improving (lives), social rights, etcetera, into a party that is basically looking at identity politics and is trying to appeal to certain voters."

She said the red-green alliance is nothing new. "We've seen it for a long time. We've actually seen it in the Islamic Republic of Iran when the Islamic Revolution happened."

Europe’s Muslim population is estimated to be 45–46 million, up by 15.9% from 2010, based on Pew Research Center projections. That same study revealed the population of European Jewry had fallen to under 1.3 million — down 8% from 2010. 

Rodan-Benzaquen says of European Jews, "electorally, we don't weigh," so they have again become a political football. She says when left and far-left parties say, "Oh, we want to fight against antisemitism. The only reason why they're saying it is because it's a tool to attack the far-right."

Two Italian Eurofighter Typhoons operating under NATO command scrambled overnight and shot down a drone over Lithuania, marking the first time a drone has been downed in the Baltic nation's airspace, officials said Tuesday.

The incident came less than a day after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned that strikes close to alliance territory would drive the 32-nation bloc to increase its support for Ukraine.

The drone was destroyed near the village of Pratkūnai, about 60 miles northwest of the capital, Vilnius.

RUSSIA PREPARING HYBRID ATTACKS ON NATO'S EASTERN FLANK, INTELLIGENCE WARNS

"Last night, two Italian Eurofighters deployed on NATO Air Defence mission at Siauliai, scrambled and shot down a drone over Lithuanian airspace," a NATO official told Fox News Digital. "The operation was coordinated through NATO’s Combined Air Operations Centre in Uedem, Germany. Investigations are ongoing together with national authorities."

Lithuanian officials said the drone most likely entered from neighboring Belarus and remained in the country's airspace for about 30 minutes before it was intercepted.

Lithuanian Air Force Commander Antanas Matutis said the recovered drone was "likely" carrying explosives.

Authorities are examining the wreckage of the downed drone to determine its origin and purpose.

The incident comes amid heightened tensions along NATO's eastern flank.

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Speaking in Brussels on Monday, Rutte said strikes "close to NATO territory" showed Russian President Vladimir Putin's "desperation and also his desire to sow fear and terror."

"Russia is growing increasingly reckless as it continues its terrible war against Ukraine," Rutte said, while pledging to strengthen NATO defenses along its eastern flank.

In a separate incident Tuesday, Denmark said a Russian frigate fired flares toward a Danish military helicopter conducting routine surveillance over the Baltic Sea. Denmark summoned the Russian ambassador over the encounter.

Meanwhile, Russia continued drone strikes across Ukraine, killing three people in Kyiv, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv remained ready to support de-escalation if the U.S. could ensure Russia was prepared to stop its attacks. Ukrainian forces also struck an oil refinery in Syzran and targeted a drone production facility in Taganrog, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland called Monday for the British government to "prepare for, plan and facilitate" constitutional change that could lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom, with the remarks coming days after President Donald Trump said he would "love to see" Irish reunification.

"Westminster’s time is coming to an end," Scottish First Minister John Swinney, Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill said in a historic joint declaration issued in Cardiff.

The nationalist party leaders had met Monday to strengthen cooperation among Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and advance what they described as "constitutional change."

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The declaration, signed during the summit in Cardiff, signals an unprecedented challenge to Prime Minister Andy Burnham and the U.K.’s constitutional settlement.

Trump spoke about the status of Northern Ireland over the weekend, saying Saturday during a visit to Dublin: "It’s going to happen eventually. It might as well happen now."

On Sunday, Trump repeated his support for a united Ireland, saying it made sense to merge the Republic of Ireland with Northern Ireland.

"It just seems to me that you have Northern Ireland and you have Ireland, and it would seem to me that one of the naturals of all time is put them together," Trump said in Doonbeg.

NIGEL FARAGE RESIGNING FROM UK PARLIAMENT

"You asked about Scotland. That one I won't talk about yet. I'll save that for another day," he added.

By Monday, the nationalist leaders had released a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to drive constitutional change.

They said no Westminster government has the right to block democratic decisions made by Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

"Each of our nations has the right to determine its own future, through democratic means and in accordance with the wishes of its people," the three leaders wrote.

"For the first time ever, people across these islands have First Ministers in Scotland, in Wales and in the North of Ireland who are all committed to independence from the United Kingdom. For people watching across these islands – for people watching around the world – there could be no clearer sign that Westminster’s time is coming to an end," the statement continued.

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"We call for the British Government to prepare for, plan and facilitate constitutional change in each jurisdiction," the memorandum said.

According to GB News, Burnham was told Monday that he could not stop the breakup of the U.K.

Sinn Féin, the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, issued the warning after signing the memorandum with the SNP and Plaid Cymru.

O’Neill said the three nations shared a "common cause" because "Westminster does not and will never serve our people well."

She added during a news conference that Burnham would not be able to "hold back the tide" of nationalism.

"We’re certainly living in times of enormous change, change that is unstoppable, change that, no matter what is said by any British prime minister, will not be able to hold back the tide of what’s happening in front of our eyes right now.

"Our common cause here is the understanding that Westminster does not and will never serve our people well," she added.

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The memorandum commits the parties to cooperation on economic policy, renewable energy and rebuilding ties with the European Union, among other areas.

It also calls for greater self-determination and states that the nations should work together as equals.

A spokesperson for Burnham said: "The Prime Minister is committed to delivering change across all four nations of the United Kingdom and believes strongly in the Union.

"The United Kingdom is at its best when people come together around our shared values and problem-solving, rather than division, and the Prime Minister will continue to ease pressures on household finances and delivering greater economic security, rather than engaging in constitutional debates or further referendums."

Fox News Digital has reached out to 10 Downing Street for comment.

Moscow is preparing for a final test of a new ballistic missile capable of striking targets hundreds of miles away and potentially maneuvering in ways that could challenge Ukraine’s already strained air defenses, a defense analyst warned Monday.

The warning comes as Ukrainian military officials said that Russia could conduct the test in the coming months and potentially in live-fire strikes.

"According to our estimates, Russia plans to conduct final tests of a new type of ballistic missile with a range of up to 800 km by the end of this year," Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), said at a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council, according to Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda.

"If, for instance, this 800-kilometer missile has more advanced maneuverability, well then that's going to create greater problems for Ukraine in that they're going to need the more sophisticated interceptors to get them," Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News Digital.

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"This means terminal maneuvers that weave a little bit so that the defender doesn't quite know where it's going or what trajectory it will have," Karako said.

"Another possibility is that they just figured out a way to make some kind of 800-kilometer missile more cheaply or in large numbers," the expert said of the Russians.

Karako said developments in precision-guided munitions, along with a broader shift away from unguided weaponry, could offer clues about the type of missile Russia will launch.

NEXT-GENERATION MISSILE DEFENSE AT MISSION SPEED

"Everyone is going for increased maneuverability," Karako explained. "Just about every gravity bomb that we have has some kind of terminal guidance for precision," he said, specifically of the U.S. arsenal.

"In a similar way, a moment's not too far in the future where you don't really have that many purely ballistic missiles."

"You have things that may be ballistic for a good part of their path, but are also equipped with maneuvering reentry vehicles or some kind of terminal end game surprises," he warned.

Meanwhile, according to Ukraine's DIU, Russian forces may try to strike targets in western Ukraine during the missile tests as a live-fire demonstration, which Karako said is standard practice in wartime.

"This is a business-as-usual arrangement where you might do lots of developmental testing and then formally field and then have your operational testing," the expert said.

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"There are all kinds of norms being broken, though, because it is, after all, wartime, and so it may well be the case that some of this stuff is tested — maybe not the first time — but some of the early tests are done, frankly, in the field in Ukraine," he added.

The missile would, however, fall into a category once prohibited under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Karako warned.

Signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, the INF Treaty required the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (roughly 310 to 3,400 miles).

The United States withdrew from the treaty in 2019 amid alleged Russian violations.

"This range is one that was formerly prohibited by the INF Treaty that capped ballistic and cruise missiles at 500 kilometers in range," Karako said.

"To some extent, you see Russia filling that gap, which is understandable and reasonable. Of course, they were violating the INF Treaty, which was why the United States got out of it."

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Missiles and artillery have been central to Russia's campaign against Ukraine since the start of the war in 2022. Ukrainska Pravda reported Aug. 10, citing Ukrainian military intelligence, that production of Russia's primary missile types had reached between 110% and 120% of monthly targets.

According to the Kyiv Independent, Russia fired at least 1,858 missiles of various types at Ukraine from the start of 2026 through Aug. 27.

"This is what's hitting Ukraine on a daily and weekly basis. And so it's in that broader context of that demand for standoffs of various kinds that you see new things pop up," Karako said.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy highlighted the growing strain on air defenses in an interview with Deutsche Welle at a Canadian military base in North Bay Sept. 12.

"I want to have 100-120 [interceptor missiles] for these difficult months, especially the cold months," Zelenskyy said. "We'll see how many months this winter lasts — that is, these cold months: one, two, three. We don't know. This is truly a major challenge."

"It is the case that Russia really is on a wartime footing, and they really have mobilized their defense industrial base to be cranking these (missiles) out like sausages," Karako said.

"There was a point in which everything was going to the front, everything was going to Ukraine."

"There have been other reports more recently that suggest that Russia may be keeping some in reserve," Karako added.

"There are lots of worries. If you're in Poland, if you're in Romania, if you're in the Baltics, you're worried about the Russians."

The Houthis’ rapid advance toward one of the world’s most important shipping chokepoints is putting fresh scrutiny on the sprawling financial network that has helped transform the Iran-backed group from a Yemeni insurgency into a heavily armed regional power capable of threatening global trade.

The group has seized new territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, including the strategic port city of Mocha, and expanded toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The waterway connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and carries a significant share of global maritime trade and energy shipments.

For the Trump administration, the Houthi advance is becoming as much a financial challenge as a military one. Washington is intensifying efforts to choke off the money sustaining Iran and its proxies, but the Houthis have built a sprawling sanctions-evasion network while controlling ports, trade routes and millions of Yemenis — raising a difficult question for Treasury: how do you cut off the cash fueling the group without cutting off food, fuel and other lifelines to civilians?

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The Houthis operate a financial network that extends far beyond Yemen, according to Adam Rousselle, founder of Between the Lines Research. 

"We’re dealing with a very well-capitalized group," Rousselle told Fox News Digital.

In a 2025 investigation for the Global Network on Extremism and Technology, Rousselle traced a financing system spanning Houthi-controlled ports, tariffs, Iranian oil, informal hawala networks, cryptocurrency exchanges and foreign facilitators across Russia, Türkiye and Southeast Asia.

Control of ports has historically been central to Houthi revenue because Yemen depends heavily on imports. Rousselle’s GNET report said the Houthis have imposed steep fees at ports they control and tariffs on goods brought into their territory from rival Yemeni ports.

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The group’s latest territorial gains could strengthen that economic base even further.

Nadwa Al-Dawsari, a Yemen expert and associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, told lawmakers in Sept. 1 testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee that territory is central to the Houthis’ ability to withstand outside pressure.

"The most important source of that leverage is territory," Al-Dawsari testified. "The Houthis have been able to consolidate their power and build increasingly sophisticated military capabilities because they control significant territory, a large population, ports, infrastructure, and resources."

"That territorial base allows them to recruit, generate revenue, manufacture and store weapons, control smuggling routes, and regenerate capabilities degraded by airstrikes and sanctions," she added.

IRAN LOSES KEY ECONOMIC LIFELINE IN MIDDLE EAST THAT TRUMP'S SANCTIONS COULDN'T REACH AS DEADLOCK PERSISTS

Rousselle said the Houthis’ finances should not be understood simply as Tehran handing cash to an Iranian proxy.

"It’s a bit of a misunderstanding that the Iranians just give them money," he said, describing the Houthis instead as embedded in a broader Iranian commercial ecosystem.

"The Houthis aren't sanctions-proof; they're sanctions-adapted," Miad Maleki, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. "Most of their money is made inside Yemen — customs and taxes at Hodeidah and Ras Isa, and fuel above all."

Treasury has estimated that the Houthis generate more than $2 billion a year from oil sales, while Iran provides the group with a free monthly oil shipment through Iranian-owned or affiliated companies based in Dubai. Treasury has also documented Houthi revenue from taxes imposed on petroleum imports.

CHINA ORDERS FIRMS TO IGNORE US IRAN SANCTIONS, DARING US TO ENFORCE CRACKDOWN

"Sanctions can't reach domestic extraction," Maleki said. "What they can reach is the plumbing between Sana'a and the outside world; the exchange houses, the Dubai and Muscat correspondents, the tankers and the wallets."

At the center of that system is Sa’id al-Jamal, whom the Treasury Department has identified as an Iran-backed Houthi financial official operating an international network that sells Iranian commodities and channels proceeds toward the group.

Treasury said in April 2025 that al-Jamal’s network had procured tens of millions of dollars in weapons, sensitive goods and commodities from Russia and identified eight digital-asset wallets used by the Houthis. Blockchain analytics cited in Rousselle’s GNET research identified nearly $900 million in outflows across those addresses.

Rousselle cautioned against treating that figure as a complete picture of Houthi wealth.

"The system is more important than the number itself," he said, describing the network as fluid and difficult to quantify.

Russia, he argued, has become a particularly significant part of the network. "The Russians are definitely more hands-on in their support," Rousselle said.

TRUMP TO CONFRONT XI AT HIGH-STAKES SUMMIT OVER CHINA BACKING FOR IRAN, RUSSIA

Al-Dawsari’s congressional testimony similarly highlighted the Houthis’ expanding relationships beyond Iran, saying the group is "deepening ties with other U.S. adversaries, particularly Russia and China."

She cited reports that Russia provided targeting data used to help the Houthis attack Western ships in the Red Sea and that Russian petroleum products were transferred ship-to-ship into a Houthi-controlled tanker before reaching the Houthi-controlled port of Ras Isa.

The China connection is more complicated. Rousselle said Chinese-linked private commercial actors appear in parts of the network but distinguished that activity from proven direct Chinese government involvement.

"The Chinese are kind of … turning a blind eye," he said.

His GNET report described Iranian oil flowing to privately owned Chinese "teapot" refineries and examined transactions linked to Southeast Asian financial networks, while cautioning that the available evidence did not establish direct Chinese government control of Houthi financing.

Al-Dawsari pointed to a broader Chinese role in Houthi supply chains. Citing U.S. officials, she said a Chinese satellite company with ties to the Chinese military provided satellite imagery supporting Houthi attacks against U.S. warships and international shipping. She also cited interdiction data showing that 60% of the components and materials used in the Houthi Qasef-2K drone came from China, compared with roughly 15% from Iran.

That sprawling network is now testing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s broader effort to isolate Tehran economically and disrupt the financial channels sustaining Iran and its proxies.

Rousselle said decentralized illicit-finance networks present a fundamental challenge.

"You’re dealing with a ‘you shut down one, another pops up’ kind of situation," he said.

Maleki argued that Washington should concentrate on the points where Houthi money intersects with the formal financial system.

IRAN TAPS FINANCIAL LIFELINE, RUSSIAN ARMS AS TRUMP ESCALATES 'CRUSHING' ECONOMIC WARFARE

"The soft spots are wherever Houthi money touches the formal system," he said. "Treasury has named the Yemeni banks and the Sana'a exchange houses that pay for missile components; it should now name the foreign correspondents still clearing for them. That is the one tool that changes behavior overnight."

Oman represents another potential pressure point. "Oman is the Houthis' land bridge and their mailing address," Maleki said.

But squeezing Houthi finances presents another dilemma: Yemen remains one of the world’s most fragile humanitarian environments, and the Houthis control ports and infrastructure through which civilians receive food, fuel and other basic goods.

"I would be lying if I had a concrete answer to it," Rousselle said when asked how Washington could disrupt Houthi revenue without worsening the humanitarian crisis.

IRAN-BACKED HOUTHI THREAT IN RED SEA COULD LEAD TO MAJOR US POLICY SHIFT, ANALYSTS SAY

"The humanitarian argument is the Houthis' best shield, and it's backwards," Maleki said. "Food and medicine are licensed and should stay that way."

"Keep the goods flowing and take away the toll," he added, arguing that Washington should seek ways to prevent humanitarian trade from generating taxes and fees for Houthi authorities.

Rousselle warned that the challenge extends far beyond Yemen.

"This isn’t just about the Houthis," he said. "This is about any sanctioned actor worldwide capable of harnessing financial systems that are completely outside of regulatory control."

The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Iran-backed Houthi rebels captured Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait Sept. 11, opening a new front at a vital global shipping chokepoint as a former Pentagon official warned Sunday the militants had entered a "kill box."

The island's capture came after a month-long offensive along Yemen’s western coast that killed more than 1,500 soldiers and forced Yemen’s government to acknowledge a "painful" defeat, according to The Associated Press.

"With Perim, they have gained what we could call the cork in the Red Sea bottle," Morgan Murphy, a former Pentagon press secretary and retired Navy captain, told Fox News Digital.

"But they've put themselves into a kill box. They're nowhere near the capability of the United States and if the president so chooses, he can wipe them off the face of that rock pretty easily," Murphy warned.

SAUDI ARABIA TELLS TRUMP NOW IS THE TIME FOR MILITARY ACTION AS IRAN-BACKED HOUTHIS ADVANCE

Despite Perim sitting in the middle of the narrow maritime passage, Murphy detailed how the Houthis had effectively placed themselves in an area that is vulnerable to concentrated fire.

"Perim cuts that chokepoint right in half, and it's only 18 miles wide there," Murphy said.

He said the island has served as a pivotal maritime vantage point for hundreds of years, previously targeted for control by French forces and held by the British Empire for over a century.

Perim — a desolate volcanic island also known as Mayun — also sits roughly 20 miles off the Horn of Africa, placing it in proximity to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, home to one of the largest U.S. military installations on the continent.

"We have incredible firepower in that region, and that's a little rock in the middle of that strait. It's a volcanic rock. It doesn't have any water. It's uninhabitable," Murphy warned.

"There's no vegetation to speak of. And the Houthis have just massed their troops on that rock. So what that is, what we would call that in the Navy, is a kill box."

Satellite imagery of the island shows a 1.85-kilometer (6,070-foot) runway alongside three military hangars, which regional intelligence reports attribute to past construction by the United Arab Emirates.

"There's a 6,000-foot airstrip on that island. I think that Emiratis built it," Murphy said.

‘GATE OF TEARS’ AT RISK: IRAN THREATENS MAJOR NEW GLOBAL CHOKEPOINT IF US MOVES ON HORMUZ

"It's nice to have an airstrip, and especially a long runway, but we don't know the condition of that runway. We don't know how they could possibly use that runway, and they certainly don't have the sophisticated air power that the United States and its allies have to project power from that runway."

He added that the U.S. military holds overwhelming force options if commanders elect to target the island.

"We could wipe that rock into glass, just blast it into a smooth glass surface, put skates back on our feet, and skate all over it," Murphy said.

"That's why the Houthis have kind of played coy with the president, and they know that even if they fortify that rock they're not going to be able to hold it in the face of the United States Navy."

The developments come amid diplomatic maneuvering between Washington, Riyadh and the Houthis in recent days.

Sources confirmed to Fox News Digital that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had called President Donald Trump twice Sept. 10 to urge him to authorize U.S. military strikes against Houthi positions.

Trump declined direct intervention, with U.S. officials noting the administration has no immediate plans for direct combat involvement but will continue offering intelligence assistance.

IRAN AND HOUTHI TERROR PROXY FACING RED SEA THREAT FROM PRO-US AFRICAN NATION

Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Sept. 12, Trump also indicated the Houthis had signaled a desire to avoid direct confrontation with American forces.

"The Houthis called us, and they don’t want to fight with us. They let us know, they don’t want to fight with us... they don’t want us to go after them," Trump said.

Murphy suggested, however, that Washington’s restraint should not be mistaken for inaction.

"I can't speak for the president. But this administration has not shown a lack of resolve to use force," Murphy said.

"I wouldn't doubt at all if the president took steps to pound some of these folks into the sand if they continue to really disrupt the global energy supply."

Yemeni government, regional and Iranian sources told Reuters the Houthi advance was sustained by Iranian weaponry and tactical direction from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, with U.S. officials estimating hundreds of IRGC officers remain active in Yemen.

Murphy noted that Tehran's strategy appears designed to drive up global fuel prices by choking critical shipping lanes.

TRUMP THREATENS 'MAJOR MILITARY PUNISHMENT' FOR IRAN OVER FUTURE HOUTHI ATTACKS

Comparing the conflict to historical naval power struggles, Murphy emphasized the strategic mismatch.

"We're in a different era. They are nowhere near the sophistication of the world's major powers. The Houthis are using a 19th-century playbook. They are not using 21st-century warfare," he said.

"So, yes, they've caught a critical cork in the Red Sea bottle, but how they use it remains to be seen," Murphy concluded.

"This is an example of why great powers really have to have a strong Navy. This is why Great Britain had a strong navy. This is why the United States has a strong navy, because there's so many regional powers who want to try to bottle up shipping, whether it is in the Strait of Malacca, whether it is in the Strait of Hormuz, and here, in this case, in the Red Sea."

"I think what we're going to see in the next several days and weeks is a coordinated effort by the Trump administration to make sure our allies are on board in helping us keep these critical waterways open, free, and clear for freedom of navigation," he said.

FIRST ON FOX: Africa could become the next major frontier for data centers and Artificial Intelligence, experts say.

The Trump administration is backing and promoting American companies to make AI development, in their words, ‘the gold standard’. The U.S. is trying increasingly to grab business opportunities in Africa, as backlash and environmental restrictions hit data center development in the U.S. and Africa.

"Africa is emerging as a significant potential location for building AI infrastructure, especially as many mature markets face increasing environmental and power constraints," Abhishek Goyal, Consultant at specialist research group Arizton Advisory & Intelligence, told Fox News Digital.

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He added, "The continent could become the next major frontier for AI infrastructure development. As the U.S. and Europe encounter challenges such as power scarcity, grid congestion, permitting issues and environmental regulations, Africa's underdeveloped infrastructure presents an opportunity rather than a disadvantage."

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "We are committed to ensuring that American AI – including enabling infrastructure like data centers – continues to be the gold standard worldwide, and that we remain the partner of choice for foreign governments and businesses who are seeking to upgrade their telecommunications networks and AI capabilities."

Amongst other deals, this year with U.S. help, an American company has won a $6.2 billion deal in Lesotho in Southern Africa for a data center and hydropower plant.

In the central African country of Gabon, the U.S. Embassy helped win $600 million in business for American companies in 2025. And this year, the embassy in this central African country has assisted in securing a $100 million contract to supply two data centers and a gas-to-power plant, in the face of strong competition from China.

TRUMP GETS MAJOR WIN AGAINST CHINA IN AFRICAN RARE EARTH MINERALS RACE

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Frank Garcia previously told Fox News Digital, "Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States is assisting U.S. companies to find new markets and flourish in Africa."

"Africa is experiencing a data center boom, but it begins from a very small base," Arthur Goldstuck told Fox News Digital. Goldstuck is CEO of South African technology research group World Wide Worx, and author of "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI – The African Edge."

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Goldstuck said that because of a lack of capacity currently, "Africa will not replace either market as any kind of center of global computing. Rather, its attraction lies in serving a rapidly growing African cloud market, and processing African data closer to the people and businesses that generate it.

He continued, "Africa also gives U.S. companies access to a cloud and AI market that remains severely under-served. The opportunities extend from operating data centers to supplying AI chips, cooling systems, cybersecurity and power infrastructure. In some countries, a data center can also become the guaranteed customer that makes a new renewable-energy project financially viable. American companies can therefore develop computing capacity and electricity generation together, in partnership with African companies and governments."

But Goldstuck said that data center growth is fueled by local needs on the continent. "It is a boom by African standards. Africa remains far behind the U.S. and Europe in installed capacity, and weak electricity grids make construction and operation more difficult. Demand is growing rapidly as governments, banks and other large companies seek local cloud and AI services. They increasingly want sensitive information stored within their own countries, which adds momentum to the expansion."

Arizton’s Goyal added that "countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco and Egypt are attracting large-scale (AI) projects. 

"The U.S. Government aims," a State Department spokesperson said, "to offer credible solutions that leverage public and private financing in priority areas, such as emerging technology, which demand that global telecoms networks remain secure for U.S. citizens and business. For example, undersea cables networks are being constructed across the Atlantic, providing more opportunity and connectivity to Africa than ever before."

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U.S. companies using undersea AI cables to connect with African data centers is a possibility, Goldstuck said, but there are limitations. "Distance creates a slight delay, so African facilities would be less attractive for U.S. services requiring an instant response from American users. They could work well for backups, disaster recovery and some intensive AI processing, provided that the cost, security and legal jurisdiction made sense."

Analysts say presently, much of Africa lacks regulation and is creating the risk of a wild west approach to business. The South African government recently claimed the country hosts 70% of the continent's total data center capacity.

But Pitso Tsibolane, senior lecturer in information systems at the University of Cape Town, told Fox News Digital that in South Africa "there is currently no public register of data center facilities, no requirement that operators disclose how much water, electricity and land they will use and no binding commitments against which performance can be measured."

Tsibolane added, "That gap serves nobody. Communities cannot see what is being traded on their behalf, and responsible operators cannot distinguish themselves from the rest, because nobody’s numbers are on the table. South Africa hosts the majority of Africa’s data center capacity and has a real opportunity to become the jurisdiction that gets this right early: transparent disclosure, an independent factual baseline and predictable approvals. That combination is good for households, good for the grid and good for every investor who intends to be here for the long term."

Arizton’s Goyal says the future for Africa could be bright. "Several African countries present a unique opportunity due to their abundant renewable energy potential — such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal sources — as well as available land, lower development costs and fast-growing digital economies."

Swedes head to the polls Sunday as Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s center-right party is slightly behind the center-left Social Democratic Party led by Sweden's former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, with the election dominated by fears of mass migration, crime and the economy.

"Years of gang violence, Islamist extremism, persistent unemployment and pressure on public services have intensified the debate over whether integration has kept pace with immigration," foreign policy expert and author Daniel Schatz, told Fox News Digital.

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Following on from Germany's AfD victory in a state election last week, Sweden's hard-right Sweden Democrats are in a position to enter government if Kristersson's party wins again. The Associated Press reported that the anti-immigration party has shifted toward the political mainstream and is likely to get cabinet posts. It has so far supported the Kristersson government from the outside.

The Associated Press reported that the Sweden Democrats were founded by activists in far-right-wing extremist groups, including neo-Nazis. But since then, under its leader, Jimmie Åkesson, it toned down that rhetoric and kicked out racist members. Åkesson, who has led them since 2005, is said to be responsible for the success of a once marginal party. 

Sweden, once a model of the Western social welfare state, has been under economic strain as governments from both the left and the right were forced to restructure their welfare system.

While social benefits continue to be extensive, Sweden’s welfare state has changed amid rising crime rates, but the expectations for public benefits remain.

"Sweden went from being described as a ‘humanitarian superpower’ to a "humanitarian basket case.’ Discontent with migration policies extends to both foreign-born and native-born residents. Shootings have declined sharply, but fewer shootings do not mean the integration problems are solved," Schatz, who is Swedish, added.

Prime Minister Kristersson’s government took power in 2022, as the nation was experiencing a dramatic rise in gun-related violence, with the country witnessing 391 shootings resulting in 62 deaths, according to The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, a government agency under the Ministry of Justice.

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The homicide rate in Sweden has been on the rise since 2013, when gun homicides contributed to a general increase in Sweden’s total homicide rate.

The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention notes that Sweden’s homicide rate ranks very high compared with other European countries, at approximately four deaths per million inhabitants per year.

The average for Europe is approximately 1.6 deaths per million inhabitants.

The issue of immigration is another major issue that dovetails with voters’ concerns over crime and gun violence. Like much of Europe, Sweden experienced a wave of immigration in 2015 coming from those fleeing the Syrian civil war as well as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sweden took in over 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015, or 12% of all those who sought protection in the EU, according to Sweden’s Migration Agency.

"After the 2015 influx of asylum seekers from Syria and other war-torn countries strained its reception system, Sweden began tightening its borders. The current government has taken that shift much further," Schatz said.

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Prime Minister Kristersson’s parliamentary ally, the right-wing Sweden Democrats, filled the void in the anti-immigration position in parliament.

Nicholas Aylott, professor of political science at Södertörn University in Stockholm, told Fox News Digital that the link between the increase in immigration and the rise in crime changed Swedish politics.

"Migration and law-and-order became much higher electoral priorities," Aylott said.

"The Sweden Democrats based their pitch on them. The other parties, rather belatedly, adapted their positions. The Sweden Democrats had at first been completely ostracized by the other parties, but they were gradually accepted as a legitimate partner by three of the other parties of the right between 2018 and 2022," he said.

As the anti-immigration backlash rose and the Sweden Democrats were more included in the policymaking process, Sweden cracked down on immigration and made it harder to seek asylum.

While asylum claims dropped and gun violence was dramatically reduced as well, with only 158 shootings and 44 fatalities to date, the government still might suffer a defeat at the hands of Andersson’s center-left coalition.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A passenger ship carrying 240 people vanished from contact in the Java Sea on Sunday local time, triggering an urgent search as Indonesian crews raced to locate the vessel.

The Virgo Transport 8 was traveling from Surabaya, East Java, to Banjarmasin on the island of Borneo when communications with the ship were lost, the Associated Press reported, citing Indonesia’s Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office.

Authorities said the vessel was last tracked roughly 92 miles from a pier in Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan province.

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Search-and-rescue teams launched an operation after receiving a report that the ship had suffered a communications failure during the voyage, according to the AP.

Officials had not reported any deaths or injuries as of Sunday, and it was not immediately clear what caused the vessel to lose contact or whether weather conditions were affecting the search.

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The Virgo Transport 8 departed Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, before losing contact while crossing the Java Sea toward South Kalimantan.

The search remains underway.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Saudi Arabia is urging Washington to take direct military action against Iran-backed Houthis, Fox News Digital learned after the terrorist group seized key positions along Yemen’s Bab al-Mandab Strait on Friday.

The dramatic strengthening of Houthi's positioning along the coastline of Yemen is in one of the world's most important shipping choke points — a narrow passage that links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, which has been used as a bypass as the Iran war continues to severely disrupt shipping, especially of oil, through the Strait of Hormuz.

The rapid advance on Friday triggered urgent discussions at the highest levels in Riyadh and Washington, and a source familiar with the matter tells Fox News Digital that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged President Donald Trump to take military action against the Houthis.

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The Houthis reached the strategic island of Mayyun, also known as Perim, after Yemeni government forces withdrew and also took the mainland coastal town of Dhubab, four Yemeni government sources told Reuters on Friday.

Fox News Digital independently confirmed key elements of an Axios report with a source familiar with the matter, who said the crown prince spoke with Trump a few times over the past 24 hours about the escalating situation in Yemen.

The U.S. does not want to take direct military action for now, but Trump told bin Salman that Washington would assist Saudi Arabia with intelligence and targeting support, according to the source.

The source also confirmed that U.S. Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper traveled to Saudi Arabia for coordination talks.

The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the calls or whether additional U.S. military action is under consideration.

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The convergence raises the prospect of simultaneous pressure on two of the world’s most consequential maritime arteries: Iran disrupting traffic through Hormuz while its Houthi allies strengthen their position around Bab al-Mandab.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that the shift reflects Tehran’s effort to recover leverage as pressure around Hormuz changes.

"Trump’s success in pushing back on Iran’s maritime threat in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf has made the regime lose the maritime leverage it had, and now it is looking to double down on the Houthis who have proven to be able to impact Red Sea shipping and the Bab al-Mandab Strait in the past," Ben Taleblu said.

"As Tehran loses leverage in the Strait of Hormuz, it is trying to wield a knife and a handshake at once: diplomacy with Arab states and a knife in the back via the Houthi offensive," he added.

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The latest advance follows the Houthis’ capture Thursday of the strategic Red Sea port of Mocha, which was previously held by forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government.

Former U.S. special envoy for Yemen Timothy Lenderking said Friday that the Houthis had spent the years since the 2022 U.N.-brokered truce rebuilding their military strength and are now exploiting the broader Iran conflict to increase pressure on Saudi Arabia.

Speaking during an on-the-record Middle East Institute virtual briefing, Lenderking said the April 2022 truce largely put Yemen’s civil war on pause but also "did allow the Houthis to regroup, retrain, refit, restock."

"They’re extremely entrepreneurial. They use every opportunity to build their capability, to test their capabilities, such that they are now the most lethal non-state actor in the entire Middle East," Lenderking said.

Lenderking traced the latest round of escalation in part to Iranian Mahan Air flights into Sanaa earlier this summer, which he said brought personnel and equipment intended to support the Houthi war effort, adding that the personnel were from Iran and were "probably IRGC members."

IRAN-BACKED HOUTHI THREAT IN RED SEA COULD LEAD TO MAJOR U.S. POLICY SHIFT, ANALYSTS SAY

Lenderking said the Houthis are now taking advantage of the wider conflict with Iran to increase their leverage over Riyadh.

"They’ve seized this opportunity, bringing these various lines of effort together, to put a great deal of pressure on the Yemen government and the Saudis specifically," he said.

On Thursday, a senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital: "The United States is focused on protecting our core national security interests — such as ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea — while empowering our regional partners to take the lead in managing and resolving regional security challenges. We are in continuous dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen Government regarding regional stability."

The stakes extend well beyond Yemen.

The Bab al-Mandab is only about 18 miles wide at its narrowest point and serves as the southern gateway to the Suez Canal. About 7% of global oil output passed through the strait in June, according to Kpler data cited by Reuters. Disruption can force ships to reroute around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, adding significant time and cost to voyages.

Reuters reported Friday that only seven vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, compared with a prewar daily average of 125, underscoring the pressure already facing the region’s other critical maritime choke point.

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Ben Taleblu said the speed of the Houthi advance exposed vulnerabilities in the Saudi-led effort to contain the group.

"The U.S. should help the Saudis stymie the Houthi advance," he said. "The inability of the Saudis to prevent the Houthis from taking the strategic port city of Mocha, for example, does not bode well for what may come."

Hisham Al-Omeisy, senior Yemen adviser at the European Institute of Peace, told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the danger extends beyond the territory captured. Retreating government forces, he said, left behind military equipment that could strengthen the Houthis on other fronts.

"People are focused on taking Mocha and those outposts on the Red Sea," Al-Omeisy said. "But the military side is terrible, particularly the equipment, the munitions, the vehicles, the drones that were at those military camps, which they can now, in turn, use against the government forces elsewhere."

The developments mark a dramatic reversal from the relative calm that followed the 2022 truce and leave Washington and its regional allies confronting a growing question: whether the Houthi advance can be contained without opening another direct U.S. military front as American forces remain focused on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Javed Ali drove past the Pentagon on his way to work in northern Virginia.

Roughly half an hour later, American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the building.

From his office in Falls Church, Ali could see smoke rising from the Pentagon. A year later, in a turn that captured how dramatically the country had changed, he was walking into the still-damaged building himself — now working in the Defense Intelligence Agency's counterterrorism office.

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"It was a very eerie and odd and surreal moment in my career," Ali told Fox News Digital.

Ali's career would eventually take him from the DIA to the newly created Department of Homeland Security and later the FBI, giving him a front-row seat to the enormous national security architecture America constructed after the deadliest foreign attack on U.S. soil.

Twenty-five years later, that architecture presents something of a paradox.

By one of its clearest measures, the post-9/11 system appears to have made another attack on the scale of 9/11 far harder. The United States has not suffered another terrorist attack remotely approaching the scale and complexity of 9/11, which killed 2,977 people. U.S. intelligence and military operations dismantled much of the al Qaeda network that planned it, while new agencies, surveillance authorities, watchlists and intelligence-sharing systems were designed to ensure that another group could not exploit the same seams in American defenses. The 2026 U.S. intelligence community assessment said counterterrorism operations have degraded al Qaeda and ISIS's ability to quickly rebuild their leadership and plan large-scale attacks against the U.S. homeland.

But success against the threat of 2001 did not eliminate terrorism. It helped change it.

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Today's most difficult threats increasingly involve individuals radicalized online, small cells with little warning signature, foreign terrorist organizations seeking to inspire attacks from afar, and an expanding layer of cyber and state-sponsored threats capable of reaching deep inside the United States without hijacking an airplane.

The question 25 years after 9/11, therefore, is not simply whether Americans are safer.

They are safer from one kind of attack — while increasingly exposed to others.

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The scale of the American response was extraordinary.

Just over two months after the attacks, President George W. Bush signed legislation creating the Transportation Security Administration. TSA says its creation amounted to the largest civilian undertaking in U.S. government history at the time, with the federal government rapidly assuming responsibility for airport passenger and baggage screening.

The following year, Congress created the Department of Homeland Security, combining all or part of 22 federal agencies and offices. DHS began operating in March 2003 and today employs more than 260,000 people across missions ranging from border and aviation security to cybersecurity, intelligence and emergency response.

The changes went far beyond new agencies.

The 9/11 Commission found that the pre-attack breakdown was deeper than the familiar failure to "connect the dots." Responsibility had been scattered across agencies, information was not consistently shared, and no single entity was empowered to integrate intelligence and drive joint action across the foreign-domestic divide. The commission concluded that "responsibility and accountability were diffuse."

Washington spent the next two decades trying to close those gaps.

Brown University's Costs of War project estimates that post-9/11 wars and related obligations have cost roughly $8 trillion. It estimates that more than $1.1 trillion has been spent on homeland security efforts to prevent and counterterrorism inside the United States since DHS was created.

Ali said it can be easy, with 25 years of hindsight, to forget how persistent the original threat remained.

Even after the United States invaded Afghanistan, killed or captured senior al Qaeda figures and put the organization under extraordinary pressure, the group continued attempting to find ways back into the homeland.

During Ali's years at DHS, he said officials repeatedly confronted plots involving al Qaeda and its affiliates, including a 2006 plot originating in Britain to bomb transatlantic airliners traveling to North America.

The threat then evolved again.

Usama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan in May 2011. But rather than marking the end of the era of jihadist terrorism, the following years produced a new and in some ways more difficult challenge.

ISIS grew out of al Qaeda in Iraq, expanded rapidly amid the wars in Iraq and Syria and declared a self-described caliphate in June 2014. At its height, the group controlled vast territory and millions of people in Iraq and Syria while encouraging or directing attacks far beyond its borders. The State Department reported that ISIS had emerged from al Qaeda in Iraq and expanded dramatically during 2013 and 2014.

For U.S. counterterrorism officials, Ali said, the center of gravity increasingly shifted from identifying trained operatives sent by an organized group to finding individuals who might be radicalizing inside Western countries.

Then came another shift: attacks by lone offenders across different ideologies, often with no direct operational relationship to an organization overseas.

"Mostly lone actors, lone offenders, not tied to groups overseas, not traveling overseas, and not being directed by people overseas," said Ali, now an associate professor of practice at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy.

DHS CHIEF ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO ITS SEAL TO REFLECT THAT DEPARTMENT IS 'AT WAR EVERY SINGLE DAY'

The transformation is now reflected in the government's own threat assessments.

The 2026 Annual Threat Assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said setbacks to the ability of Islamist terrorist groups to conduct "large-scale complex attacks" have pushed them toward information operations and propaganda designed to inspire or enable people in or with access to Western countries.

The assessment said there were at least three Islamist terrorist attacks in the United States in 2025 and that law enforcement disrupted at least 15 U.S.-based Islamist terrorist plotters that year. Roughly half of those disrupted plotters had some online contact with Islamist terrorists or were inspired by foreign terrorist organizations, according to the assessment.

The vulnerability was demonstrated on New Year's Day 2025, when Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas, drove a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14 people. The FBI described the attack as an act of terrorism and said Jabbar had become increasingly isolated before adopting extremist views.

In the days after that attack, the FBI said lone actors and small cells who radicalize online had posed the greatest terrorism threat to the homeland in recent years precisely because they can be so difficult to detect and disrupt.

That presents almost the inverse of the 9/11 problem.

The 9/11 plot required 19 hijackers, overseas leadership, financing, international travel, flight training and years of planning. The challenge for investigators was collecting pieces of information held across different agencies and assembling them quickly enough.

A lone actor may offer far fewer pieces to collect in the first place.

Ali said many recent attackers or alleged plotters had not previously come onto the radar of the FBI or local law enforcement, leaving authorities with the extraordinarily difficult task of identifying people who may not commit an obvious crime until they move toward violence.

"So yes, we are safer from a certain type of threat," Ali said, "but again, we are not immune from terrorism, and other types of threats are much more difficult to identify or stop."

KASH PATEL REVEALS THE CHILLING HOLIDAY TERROR PLOTS FBI FEDERAL AGENTS QUIETLY STOPPED

That changing threat has also fueled a broader debate over whether the institutions created after 9/11 became too large, too expensive or too focused on the dangers of the previous era.

Morgan Murphy, who served as press secretary to the secretary of Defense during the first Trump administration and later worked in the Trump White House, argues that Washington built too much bureaucracy around the 9/11 threat while other vulnerabilities grew.

"TSA agents still pat down grandma and gum up travel while Beijing wires our living rooms with cheap TVs and selfie sticks through the supply chain handed to them by Clinton, Bush, Obama and Biden," Murphy said. "We spent two decades frisking American passengers while our adversaries plugged themselves into our homes and businesses."

"The genius of America after Pearl Harbor was that we built to fight. After 9/11, we built to process," Murphy told Fox News Digital, "Real security means sovereignty at home and lethality abroad — a sealed border, an untangled supply chain, and enemies who fear us."

Theo Wold, who served as acting assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy and as deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy during the first Trump administration, offered a similar critique, arguing that post-9/11 Washington relied too heavily on large bureaucracies, expansive government authorities and wars in the Middle East.

"George W. Bush and the D.C. governing elite responded to 9/11 the way their politics demanded: create large, unwieldy bureaucracy, push for special legal authorities with limited oversight and activate ground wars in the Middle East," Wold told Fox News Digital.

"Those wars didn’t make us safer, the legal authorities were wielded against Americans, and the bureaucracy is full of waste and has proven nearly unworkable," he said.

Wold argued that the lesson from the past quarter-century should be a more narrowly targeted national-security model.

"Now we know better. Americans are safest when we are nimble and focus ruthlessly on targeting real enemies," he said.

 The challenge now extends beyond terrorism.

The 2026 intelligence assessment warns that China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and non-state ransomware groups continue seeking access to U.S. government networks and private critical infrastructure for espionage, financial gain and possible future disruption. It also warns that artificial intelligence is accelerating cyber capabilities and that several state adversaries are developing missile systems capable of threatening the homeland.

The security landscape that began with al Qaeda operatives training to fly passenger jets has therefore expanded into something far less geographically defined: terrorist propaganda transmitted to an individual's phone, malicious code inserted into a computer network, attacks on critical infrastructure and state adversaries capable of reaching Americans from thousands of miles away.

For Ali, however, the evolution of the threat should not lead Washington to conclude that the original threat has vanished.

One of the central lessons of the years before Sept. 11, he said, was that emerging terrorist organizations have to be confronted before they have the time and space to develop operational capability.

"When these terrorist threats start to emerge, whether it's overseas or here, you have to put pressure on them before they gather momentum to carry out operations," Ali said.

The danger, he argued, would be allowing counterterrorism to fall so far down Washington's list of priorities that the country begins recreating the complacency that existed before 9/11.

"Terrorism as a tactic is probably never going to be defeated," Ali said.

Twenty-five years after he watched smoke rise from the Pentagon, Ali's answer to whether America is safer reflects the contradiction at the heart of the post-9/11 era.

The United States built a massive system to prevent the next 9/11.

It appears to have made another 9/11 far harder to execute.

The harder question now is whether that system can recognize the attack that doesn't look anything like it.

All eyes will be on New Delhi this weekend, as the presidents of Iran, Russia and China gather in India for the 18th BRICS summit. The meeting comes at a critical time as conflicts roil the Middle East and Europe, putting the bloc to one of its biggest tests since its founding 20 years ago.

The Sept. 12-13 summit comes more than six months after the Middle East war broke out between the U.S. and Iran, and at a time when regional tensions are again spiking. It follows the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit earlier this month, where several of the same leaders met.

The BRICS alliance was established in 2006 by founding members Brazil, Russia, India and China, and has since expanded to include nations such as Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

INDIA'S MODI-IRAN MEETING COMES AMID US WARNINGS OF SANCTIONS ON TEHRAN'S TRADING PARTNERS

At the forefront are Iran-India relations, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Prime Minister Narendra Modi likely to highlight trade, connectivity, energy cooperation and regional developments. The two leaders are meeting less than two weeks after reaffirming their "longstanding" strategic partnership.

In the face of an economic onslaught from Washington, Tehran has been working to deepen ties with Moscow and Beijing. In its latest attempt at securing a critical economic lifeline, Iran is seeking membership in the BRICS New Development Bank. The effort comes as many of Iran's largest remaining economic partners, including China, India, Russia and the UAE, will all be represented in New Delhi, giving Tehran a rare opportunity to engage several key trading partners collectively, just as the U.S. ramps up sanctions pressure.

CHINA, RUSSIA, IRAN AND NORTH KOREA FORM 'AXIS OF AGGRESSORS' THAT COULD OVERWHELM US, BOOK WARNS

Also in focus is China. President Xi Jinping will be visiting India for the first time in seven years. The high-stakes trip marks the biggest step yet in a cautious thaw between India and China after a deadly military clash in 2020 along their disputed Himalayan border. A bilateral meeting between Modi and Xi is expected to focus on maintaining that normalization while expanding economic engagement, making it one of the summit's most closely watched sidelines meetings.

Then there is Russia. President Vladimir Putin met Modi on Friday in a pre-summit bilateral meeting. It marks Putin's first trip to India since the Ukraine war began four years ago.

Energy and defense are expected to dominate the agenda after the Russian president criticized American tariffs as "illegal" and "unacceptable."

Just earlier this week, the Kremlin touted expanding energy ties, saying India's imports of Russian energy have reached a "new record" every month. Moscow has also said Russia understands India's position on the war in Ukraine and that it "to a great extent corresponds" with Russia's own position, while calling on India to facilitate a peaceful resolution.

IRAN LOSES KEY ECONOMIC LIFELINE IN MIDDLE EAST THAT TRUMP'S SANCTIONS COULDN'T REACH AS DEADLOCK PERSISTS

The meeting also comes days after Putin publicly welcomed the UAE’s role in facilitating discussions over the Ukraine war, highlighting Abu Dhabi's increasingly influential diplomatic role as another major BRICS participant.

Saudi Arabia will also be watched after Iran-backed Houthi militia renewed attacks on its cities earlier this week.

Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have become increasingly central to India's Gulf strategy. The summit also comes as New Delhi attempts to navigate widening divisions between Tehran and Abu Dhabi after the UAE cut off commercial and financial dealings with Iran. The suspension has already squeezed Indian exporters, as Dubai has long served as a key commercial hub for India's trade with Iran, giving India a direct economic incentive.

The BRICS summit will be a major test of India's diplomatic mettle in more ways than one, as the nation finds itself balancing competing interests from Washington, Tehran, Moscow, Beijing and the Gulf while trying to forge unity among BRICS members.

"New Delhi’s leadership of BRICS is ultimately an exercise in managing contradiction. The biggest challenge is to ensure BRICS remains a platform for advancing Global South priorities rather than becoming an arena for great-power rivalry, Harsh V. Pant, vice president at Observer Research Foundation, told Fox News Digital. "New Delhi is trying to keep the focus on practical cooperation — from energy security to connectivity and development — rather than ideological confrontation."

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Building a unified position among BRICS members will be a complex task for India, especially given the sharp geopolitical divergences among member states, such as the U.S-China rivalry, the Russia-Ukraine war and tensions involving Iran, Israel and the UAE. Modi will have to balance championing his own priorities with the summit's, as well as toeing the line to avoid an anti-U.S. tilt.

"The balancing act reflects India's broader foreign policy, which seeks to maintain strong ties with Washington while continuing to engage Moscow, Beijing and Tehran," Pant said.

Throughout the conflict, India has sought to position itself as a voice for dialogue while avoiding taking sides, emphasizing themes of resilience, sustainability, cooperation and innovation.

But experts warn that failure to reach consensus would expose the limits of the expanded BRICS grouping, whose broader membership has also imported longstanding regional rivalries.

Though major Western powers are absent, analysts say the alliance is not to be dismissed. Every ceasefire in this conflict has involved mediation by BRICS members or partners, and leaders gathering in New Delhi are expected to explore whether the forum can once again provide diplomatic momentum after recent attempts to revive negotiations between Washington and Tehran stalled.

"Hosting the BRICS summit in New Delhi offers India an important opportunity to demonstrate the logic of its multi-alignment at a time when global politics is becoming increasingly polarized, "Pant said. "By bringing together countries such as China, Russia, Iran and the Gulf states while simultaneously deepening its partnerships with the United States and the Quad, India is signaling that it does not accept the binary choices imposed by great-power rivalry."

The stakes extend beyond diplomacy as disruptions from the war have disproportionately affected developing nations. India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, has already suffered energy and inflation hits. 

"The real measure of India’s success will therefore be its ability to keep BRICS sufficiently inclusive and functional to address Global South priorities while preventing geopolitical divisions from paralyzing the grouping," Pant said.

Iran-backed Houthi forces seized Yemen’s strategic port city of Mocha on Thursday and pushed toward positions overlooking the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, opening a potentially dangerous new front for global trade as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains severely constrained.

The advance threatens the southern gateway to the Red Sea just as Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on that route to bypass Hormuz — putting pressure on critical shipping lanes on both sides of the Arabian Peninsula and raising the risk of further disruptions to oil and commercial traffic through a key global trade choke point.

"Now you have Iran on one side of the Arabian Peninsula controlling Hormuz, and now the Houthis controlling Bab el-Mandeb on the other side of the peninsula," Hisham Al-Omeisy, senior Yemen advisor at the European Institute of Peace, told Fox News Digital. "Which basically is going to drive prices — oil prices, goods and everything else — up exponentially."

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On background, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital: "The United States is focused on protecting our core national security interests — such as ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea — while empowering our regional partners to take the lead in managing and resolving regional security challenges. We are in continuous dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen Government regarding regional stability."

Yemeni government sources said Thursay the Houthis captured Mocha and reached the Hanish Islands, while Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces withdrew south toward Dhubab, which sits directly on the Bab el-Mandeb opposite the strategic island of Perim. Control of Dhubab and Perim would be critical to gaining a stronger hold over the strait, Yemeni government sources told Reuters on Sept. 10.

Bab el-Mandeb is only about 18 miles wide at its narrowest point and connects the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden with the Red Sea and, farther north, the Suez Canal. It is a major artery for goods moving between Asia and Europe as well as energy shipments.

Its importance has grown dramatically during the Iran conflict.

WHO CONTROLS THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ RIGHT NOW? HERE'S WHAT THE SHIP TRAFFIC ACTUALLY SHOWS

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Sept. 9 that crude oil and petroleum liquids moving through Bab el-Mandeb averaged 8.1 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2026, up from 5.4 million barrels per day in the final quarter of 2025. At the same time, flows through Hormuz plunged from 21.6 million barrels per day to just 4.9 million. The EIA attributed the increase at Bab el-Mandeb in part to Saudi Arabia rerouting crude through its East-West pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu to avoid Hormuz.

Al-Omeisy said the danger extends beyond the Houthis’ geographical gains. He said retreating government forces left behind military materiel that could strengthen Houthi forces on other fronts.

"People are focused on taking Mocha and those outposts on the Red Sea," Al-Omeisy said. "But the military side is terrible, particularly the equipment, the munitions, the vehicles, the drones that were at those military camps, which they can now, in turn, use against the government forces elsewhere."

RUBIO ACCU.S.ES IRAN OF FLYING IRGC PERSONNEL INTO YEMEN AS HOUTHI THREAT ESCALATES

Reuters separately reported Thursday that Iranian arms and direct guidance from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards helped the Houthi advance, citing Yemeni government, Iranian and regional sources. Two Iranian sources told Reuters that Tehran had instructed the Houthis to intensify attacks on Saudi Arabia and promised additional funding, weapons and senior officers. Iran has publicly denied directing Houthi operations.

The seizure comes amid what conflict-monitoring organization ACLED described Sept. 9 as the most serious escalation between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed camp since hostilities resumed in mid-July.

ACLED recorded at least 276 fatalities between Sept. 3 and 7 as clashes spread across al-Dali, al-Bayda, Marib, Shabwa, al-Jawf, al-Hudayda and Taizz, according to an analysis published Sept. 9.

Sherwan Hindreen Ali, ACLED’s Middle East research manager, said fighting along the Red Sea coast had become particularly intense as both sides sought control over territory with direct strategic importance to Bab el-Mandeb.

"Fighting will remain focused on the fronts of the Red Sea coast in al-Hudaydah and Taizz, where both the Houthis and the Saudi Arabia/IRG have a vested interest in claiming the whole territory to deprive the other side of effective control of the strait of Bab el-Mandab," Ali said in an analysis.

Saudi Arabia itself has also become more deeply involved.

EXPERT WARNS OF 'GENERAL ESCALATION' OF FIGHTING IF HOUTHIS RESUME RED SEA CAMPAIGN

Ali said Saudi forces launched at least 15 strikes against the Houthis between Sept. 3 and 7, mostly around Taizz, marking the highest number of Saudi strikes since Riyadh resumed military engagement against the Houthis in July.

The Houthis responded Sept. 8 with what Ali described as their largest wave of direct attacks on Saudi territory since March 2022, launching dozens of drones and ballistic missiles toward Abha, Jizan, Najran and Khamis Mushait. Ali said the attacks injured 73 people.

The widening fighting is now posing an early test for a new joint defense agreement between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey.

Al-Omeisy said the international response allowed the Houthis to exploit divisions among their opponents.

"The Houthis are also good in exploiting divisions and delays, they move rapidly on the ground to force a status quo while the international community debates merits, responsibilities and costs of an intervention."

The escalation also raises questions about Saudi Arabia’s newly signed defense agreement with Pakistan and Turkey.

IRAN-BACKED HOUTHI THREAT IN RED SEA COULD LEAD TO MAJOR US POLICY SHIFT, ANALYSTS SAY

The agreement, signed last month in Mecca, states that an armed attack against one member will be considered an attack against all three, Reuters reported Sept. 10. But after Houthi drones and ballistic missiles struck Saudi cities and energy infrastructure this week, Pakistan said Thursday that no military response under the pact was currently being discussed. 

"There is no such thing under discussion right now," Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said, according to Reuters. "When time comes [we] will act under the agreement." 

The Houthis, meanwhile, have said international navigation through the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb remains safe, while maintaining that Saudi vessels are subject to their previously announced blockade, Reuters reported Thursday. 

Al-Omeisy warned that reversing the Houthis’ latest territorial gains could become increasingly difficult.

"The Houthis are really good at capturing a position, they entrench really well," he said. "They send these massive reinforcements, and then it’s going to be extremely difficult to push them out of those areas."

Oil markets were already responding to the widening regional threat Thursday. Brent crude jumped more than 5% to $106.60 a barrel by late Thursday morning, while U.S. crude climbed above $100 for the first time since May, according to Reuters. 

Reuters contributed to the story.

A cargo ship docked for repairs at a port on the northeastern coast of China caught fire Thursday, killing at least 25 people who were on board at the time, according to Chinese state media.

The ship was being fixed by Beihai Shipbuilding Co. in the port of Qingdao — one of the country's major shipping hubs — when it caught fire at approximately 11:15 a.m. local time, the Xinhua news agency reported.

A total of 42 people were on the vessel at the time of the blaze, and 12 of them were safely rescued, Xinhua reported. Five others were injured and taken to the hospital, where they are in stable condition.

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Photos released by Xinhua identified the ship as the Ocean Melody. The ship-tracking website VesselFinder lists it as sailing under the Liberian flag.

The Associated Press reported that the fire was extinguished at around 2:30 p.m., a little over three hours after it started. Videos online showed plumes of white smoke billowing from the ship.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Chinese authorities have not said what sparked the blaze while the vessel was undergoing repairs.

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China’s President Xi Jinping called for "intensified efforts" to provide support for those who were affected by the fire, Xinhua reported, adding that Premier Li Qiang said "trapped people" needed to be rescued.

Xi also called for ensuring "preventive measures are thoroughly implemented" and "resolutely prevent major and catastrophic accidents."

Beihai Shipbuilding is a subsidiary of the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation, the world's largest shipbuilder. According to the company's website, its primary businesses are shipbuilding and ship repair.

Qingdao, in China's Shandong province, is one of the country's busiest ports and a major center for shipbuilding, shipping and international trade. The port handles millions of containers each year and is home to several large shipyards.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

At sundown on Friday, Sept. 11, as America marks 25 years since the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, Jewish families across the country will welcome in Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year marking 5787.

They will enter synagogues at the moment of peak annual attendance, walking past armed guards, security cameras, secured doors and bag checks.

The convergence brings into focus how the Sept. 11 attacks transformed security in American synagogues and helped create the national infrastructure that now protects Jewish life.

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When Rosh Hashanah began six days after the attacks in 2001, a security guard stationed outside a synagogue was still unusual. Twenty-five years later, security is no longer an occasional precaution. It has become a permanent precondition of Jewish communal life.

"The confluence of events, the 25th anniversary of 9/11 and Rosh Hashanah, is really very meaningful to us," Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of Jewish Federations of North America, told Fox News Digital. "If you trace the evolution of the security situation for the Jewish community in North America, you see that 9/11 really was a major turning point."

Before the attacks, Fingerhut said, synagogues may have relied on police to direct traffic during the High Holidays or installed basic alarm systems, but there was no widespread belief that Jewish communities needed protection from threats to their physical safety.

"That changed on 9/11," he said. "The Jewish community understood quite clearly that the people who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacking America that day, but they had a special animus for the Jewish community and the Jewish people."

Fingerhut said that shift led Jewish Federations of North America to help create the Secure Community Network after 9/11, giving communities a model for protecting Jewish institutions and a unified channel to federal law enforcement.

For generations, Rosh Hashanah preparation meant apples and honey, prayer books and the shofar. Now the checklist also includes secured entrances, emergency plans and congregants standing watch while their neighbors pray.

The price of that new reality is staggering.

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A national study by Jewish Federations of North America found that Jewish communal institutions spend an estimated $1 billion annually on security. Based on an examination of more than 4,500 institutions, that amounts to nearly $2.8 million every day simply to keep Jewish life open and accessible.

The organization leads the national initiative placing professional security directors across all 141 Federation communities.

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, senior rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, described the contrast on his own block.

"If you walk past the churches on our block, the doors are wide open, inviting people in," Steinmetz told Fox News Digital. "But at our synagogue, there are security cameras, a double door system and a line of guards outside, at the cost of untold thousands of dollars."

That security is no longer reserved for major institutions or large cities. From New York and Florida to Michigan and Los Angeles, ordinary worshipers are training in situational awareness, access control, surveillance detection, emergency response and coordination with law enforcement.

The Community Security Service, or CSS, said more than 20,000 people completed its training in 2025. Of those, 6,100 volunteers protected 440 synagogues and nearly 100 Jewish events, logging more than 300,000 guard hours across 24 states.

The Secure Community Network, or SCN, provides national intelligence and coordination. In 2025, it recorded 4,400 incident reports, trained 40,000 people and made 851 referrals to law enforcement.

"While the threat environment accelerates, our community has never been more prepared, informed or engaged," Michael Masters, SCN’s national director and CEO, told Fox News Digital. "This year our Duty Desk logged nearly 3,200 threat incidents, pacing ahead of last year."

Steinmetz said threats to the Jewish community "exploded after Oct. 7th," adding that "the hatred of Israel encourages antisemites to come out of the woodwork."

The FBI recorded 1,528 hate crime incidents targeting Jews in 2025, representing 63% of the nation’s 2,408 religiously motivated incidents. Jews comprise roughly 2% of the U.S. population, yet incidents targeting Jews represented 14% of all hate crimes reported nationwide.

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During the first eight months of 2026, major crime fell 6.2% across New York City while confirmed hate crimes targeting Jews rose 8%, from 212 to 229, according to new NYPD figures. That averages nearly one such crime every 25 hours.

Fox News Digital contacted NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch about the department’s High Holiday preparations. The NYPD said it will hold a briefing ahead of the holidays and provide additional security details at that time.

In neighboring New Jersey, the state Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness said it is coordinating with the state Attorney General’s Office, New Jersey State Police, the FBI’s Newark field office, local law enforcement and community partners.

"Together, we are protecting houses of worship, helping ensure every New Jerseyan can practice their faith without fear, and keeping New Jersey safe and secure," NJOHSP said.

The coordination follows recent attacks on Jewish institutions.

On Aug. 14, a man was charged with allegedly disrupting a Friday night service attended by approximately 375 people at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue, damaging ceremonial candlesticks and assaulting a congregant and security guard. The charges against include federal hate crimes and damaging religious property resulting in bodily injury.

Five months earlier, an attacker inspired by Hezbollah rammed a pickup truck carrying gasoline and fireworks through the doors of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, according to the FBI. Armed with a rifle and hundreds of rounds, he struck one security guard and exchanged gunfire with others.

Inside were 140 children at the synagogue’s early childhood center. Every child and staff member escaped without physical injury and the guard survived.

For Steven Ingber, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Detroit, the assault remains a powerful reminder of the need for vigilance as families prepare to gather.

"We take the security of our community with the utmost seriousness, and, of course, the assault on Temple Israel remains fresh in our minds," Ingber said. "We will enter the High Holidays vigilant and prepared. But we will also enter them with confidence and pride."

Rabbi Aaron Starr of Congregation Shaarey Zedek in suburban Detroit, who also serves as president of the Michigan Board of Rabbis, said Jewish Michiganders are entering the new year "with a feeling of heaviness."

"From marking the 25th year since the terrorist attacks on 9/11 to marking six months since the terrorist attack on our community and especially our children, anxieties are heightened," Starr told Fox News Digital exclusively. "We enter with heaviness, but we are also filled with hope for a better tomorrow."

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"No family should have to weigh their safety against their faith," Fingerhut said.

Employing one full-time security guard costs an estimated $90,000 annually, according to Jewish Federations of North America. The organization is advocating for greater federal support through the bipartisan Jewish American Security Act, which would strengthen security assistance for at-risk nonprofit institutions.

For Jewish communities, the question is no longer whether security is necessary, but who will bear the growing cost of making worship possible.

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Steinmetz called that cost "a vicious tax on the Jewish community," one "levied by the antisemites."

For Fingerhut, the purpose of security is not simply to prevent an attack. It is to ensure fear never determines whether a Jewish family participates in Jewish life.

"We do not want anyone to make the choice not to participate in Jewish life because they are afraid for their safety," Fingerhut said. "What we have learned is that the visible presence of security, and the real impact of that security, is what enables and encourages people to come out and participate in Jewish life."

Fingerhut’s message to Jewish communities in America and around the world was clear: do not retreat, but continue to "lean into Jewish life."

He said, "We will make sure that there is safety and security in place so that we can all feel confident in our involvement in Jewish life."

That is the purpose, according to the experts, of every guard, camera and volunteer: not to turn a synagogue into a fortress, but to ensure that Jewish life continues inside.

A plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Norway for the king’s state funeral was "almost hit" by a drone as it prepared to take off from Moldova on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told public broadcaster NRK about the incident Wednesday, the outlet said, after Zelenskyy’s aircraft arrived safely in Oslo Tuesday evening.

"His plane was almost hit by a drone as it was about to take off from Moldova. That is the reality he is facing," Støre said, without specifying how close the drone came to the Ukrainian leader's aircraft.

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Later Wednesday, a Moldovan government spokesperson said two Russian drones were involved in the incident, with Zelenskyy’s departure to Oslo delayed after authorities closed the country’s airspace.

His aircraft was then cleared for takeoff once officials determined that one Russian drone had landed on Moldovan territory, a spokesperson told Reuters.

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One landed in a field north of the capital, sparking a fire, while the other continued into Romanian airspace.

The incursions forced Chișinău International Airport to temporarily suspend arrivals and departures Tuesday, sending incoming flights into holding patterns or diverting them to neighboring countries, according to tracking data.

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Moldovan President Maia Sandu denounced the incursions as a "serious threat to people’s lives" and separately condemned a Russian drone strike on a border crossing with Ukraine that killed two people.

Zelenskyy arrived in Oslo Tuesday evening, where he discussed military aid, including air defense support and civilian assistance with Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide and Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg, according to Deutsche Welle.

The Institute for the Study of War also said a Russian Shahed drone flew through Moldovan and Romanian airspace for about an hour Tuesday before crashing in Moldova.

A Spanish opposition leader branded the country's socialist prime minister a traitor over his government's handling of the influx of migrants in a North African enclave.

Santiago Abascal, leader of the Vox party, spoke during a parliamentary session when he asked if Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was being blackmailed by Morocco amid the border crisis in Ceuta.

During his remarks, Abascal called Sánchez a "traitor" and "a dog."

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Sánchez responded in a heated back-and-forth, saying, "I may be a dog, but I have no master."

Abascal then held up sheets of paper one by one that spelled out "Traidor," Spanish for "Traitor." Sánchez then sat down.

Spain has seen major protests in response to the migrant arrivals in Ceuta, with critics blaming Sánchez for the crisis and some accusing him of pandering to Morocco.

LOCALS TORCH MIGRANT SHELTERS AS SPAIN'S PM POINTS BLAME BEYOND THE BORDER

More than 70,000 migrants poured into Ceuta in July. Most of them have returned to Morocco, but many remain in the enclave, with some living in tent encampments on the beach.

Meanwhile, Spain’s national intelligence agency issued multiple warnings before the mass crossing of migrants from Morocco into Ceuta in late July, according to declassified documents released by the government on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.

"There are two different groups with a total of 180,000 followers," the declassified WhatsApp message said, "just to give you an idea of its scale."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ukrainian drones struck deep into Russia’s Arctic north Wednesday, sparking a fire at an industrial facility in Novy Urengoy, a city in the heart of Russia’s most important natural-gas producing region, according to Russian officials and the Associated Press.

Regional Gov. Dmitry Artyukhov said Russian air defenses repelled the attack but falling drone debris caused a fire at an industrial site. He did not identify the facility, and the extent of the damage was still being assessed, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Ukrainian defense manufacturer Fire Point appeared to claim involvement, posting: "Guess who covered more than 3,300 km and successfully hit the target."

The extraordinary strike comes as Washington makes a renewed push to end the more than four-year war even as Russia and Ukraine intensify long-range attacks on each other.

UKRAINE UNLEASHES MORE THAN 400 DRONES NEAR MOSCOW IN ONE OF WAR'S BIGGEST ATTACKS

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said he had just spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin and suggested both Moscow and Kyiv may be prepared to negotiate.

"We had a great conversation. He is wanting to make a deal. And if Zelenskyy is wanting to make a deal, that would be very nice," Trump said.

Asked what was holding up an agreement, Trump pointed to the personal animosity between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling them "two people that hate each other."

"These are two people that are tired of fighting," Trump added.

Trump’s comments followed a weekend diplomatic push by U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who traveled to Moscow and Kyiv in an effort to revive negotiations. The talks produced no breakthrough, according to the Associated Press.

RUSSIAN STRIKES CONTINUE FOLLOWING VISIT BY WITKOFF AND KUSHNER TO KYIV

Russia resumed major missile and drone attacks on Kyiv shortly after the American delegation left Ukraine, killing five people and wounding 35 on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

A European intelligence source told Fox News Digital that the simultaneous diplomacy and military escalation reflects a long-standing dilemma for Western governments trying to engage Moscow.

"You have to talk, you have to explain," the source said, arguing that communication is necessary to prevent misunderstandings.

RUSSIA UNLEASHES NEARLY 600 MISSILES AND DRONES ON KYIV IN DEADLIEST STRIKE SINCE MAY

But the source said Russian officials can interpret Western outreach differently.

"Whenever you talk with them, they consider that this is a Western weakness," the source said, adding that the assessment was based in part on informal contacts with Russian officials.

The source also said Putin’s recent emphasis on Russian "military progress in Ukraine" appeared aimed in part at Washington, projecting strength as U.S. officials seek to revive negotiations.

The escalation is taking an increasing toll on civilians. The United Nations said last month that Russian attacks killed or wounded more Ukrainian civilians in July than in any month since March 2022, with 437 killed and more than 2,600 wounded.

More than 16,800 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and more than 51,000 wounded since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied deliberately targeting civilians and says its strikes are aimed at military and military-related facilities.

DRONE OFFENSIVE HITS RUSSIAN OIL TANKERS AND REFINERIES AT 'INDUSTRIAL SCALE' AS MOSCOW BANS DIESEL EXPORTS

United24 described Wednesday’s attack as the deepest Ukrainian drone strike inside Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Novy Urengoy lies roughly 1,740 miles from Ukraine’s border. Artem Zhoga, Putin’s envoy to Russia’s Urals Federal District, said a Ukrainian drone had attempted to strike a fuel-and-energy facility in Yamal, according to Meduza.

The city sits in Russia’s Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the country’s dominant natural-gas producing region. About 80% of Russia’s natural gas is extracted there, according to Interfax data cited by the Associated Press.

Artyukhov said there were no reported casualties.

The attack was part of a broader Ukrainian drone assault on Russia. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces also struck targets around the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, including a naval base, an oil-loading terminal, military port facilities and warships capable of carrying cruise missiles, according to the Associated Press.

Russian authorities said four people, including a child, were killed and 29 wounded in the Novorossiysk attack.

Russia, meanwhile, continued its own long-range campaign against Ukraine Wednesday. Russian drones struck the Starokozache border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova, killing two civilians and wounding three, while another wave of attacks on Kyiv killed one person and wounded 14, according to Reuters.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.