Skip to content

Middle East Breaking News

Source-linked breaking news and fast translations on Middle East conflict, diplomacy, security, oil, and shipping.

1 filter applied

The Hormuz Letter

BREAKING: Yemen's Houthis have seized the Red Sea port city of Mocha, Dhubab and Zuqar Island in a series of rapid gains along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and are now attempting a landing on Perim Island inside the strait itself, which hosts an Emirati air base where Israel has been granted access to, per AFP and Reuters, moving to put the entire chokepoint under their control. The Houthis are acting in full coordination with Iran, which asked them to strengthen their grip on Bab el-Mandeb as a complement to Tehran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz. US officials believe there are currently hundreds of IRGC officers in Yemen working alongside the Houthis with the goal of shutting the strait down completely. Houthi leadership has previously discussed a transit fee system modeled on Iran's at Hormuz, with Chinese vessels exempt. Gulf crude oil reaches Asia by sea through Hormuz or, by pipeline to the Red Sea, through Bab el-Mandeb. Iran holds the first and Houthis are taking the second now.

The Hormuz Letter · View on X
The Hormuz Letter

BREAKING: Iran's IRGC announces it destroyed a US unmanned surface vessel at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, a Saildrone Explorer with hull number 5838, releasing video of the drone burning. It is the first time Iran has destroyed a USV. This comes two days after the IRGC captured the Anduril Dive-LD unmanned submarine at the same Hormuz entrance, two US unmanned systems lost there in three days, one captured intact and one destroyed.

The Hormuz Letter · View on X
The Hormuz Letter

BREAKING: At least 8 US F-15 fighter jets were damaged and an A-10 Thunderbolt severely damaged, losing a wing, in the Iranian ballistic missile strikes on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan overnight, the first time the US has acknowledged damage to aircraft in more than 3 months, and to fighter jets in more than 5 months, per US officials with direct knowledge speaking to CBS. US forces fired more than 30 Patriot interceptors defending Muwaffaq alone, US officials add. The IRGC said it hit the deployment site for F-35, F-16 and F-15 jets at the base, and the F-15 damage is now confirmed from the US. At roughly $4 million a round, that is $120 million or more in interceptors for one base in one night, and 4 missiles still came in with no interceptors left to fire at them at them.

English translation

BREAKING: At least 8 US F-15 fighter jets were damaged and an A-10 Thunderbolt severely damaged, losing a wing, in the Iranian ballistic missile strikes on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan overnight, the first time the US has acknowledged damage to aircraft in more than 3 months, and to fighter jets in more than 5 months, per US officials with direct knowledge speaking to CBS. US forces fired more than 30 Patriot interceptors defending Muwaffaq alone, US officials add. The IRGC said it hit the deployment site for F-35, F-16 and F-15 jets at the base, and the F-15 damage is now confirmed from the US. At roughly $4 million a round, that is $120 million or more in interceptors for one base in one night, and 4 missiles still came in with no interceptors left to fire at them.

The Hormuz Letter · View on X
The Hormuz Letter

BREAKING: The founder of the US submarine that Iran captured, Palmer Luckey, directly contradicts CENTCOM's claim that it was "an older model that neither collected sensitive data nor carried any classified sonar or radar," confirming the vehicle is an Anduril Dive-LD that had been operating in the CENTCOM area for months, "successfully operating in support of American forces for thousands of hours," and provided significant value before its capture. "I can't get into the details [classified] but it provided significant value [collected sensitive data using sonar/radar] for months before capture," Luckey says. It is also not an old model like CENTCOM claimed, as mass production started at the start of 2026. Iran says it is already reverse engineering it. A senior Iranian source in Tehran familiar with the matter adds that China has asked Iran to take a look as well.

The Hormuz Letter · View on X
The Hormuz Letter

BREAKING: A large number of injured US soldiers are being flown to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, some with life-threatening injuries, following tonight's Iranian ballistic missile strikes on the Muwaffaq Salti and Prince Hassan air bases in Jordan, per a Jordanian source to Al Arabiya. A US official tells Reuters minutes ago that all American troops in Jordan are "accounted for," which is highly unusual wording and does not mean "no casualties," as it is simply a headcount of every listed soldier. At least 4 of the missiles at Muwaffaq directly impacted, with no interceptors even fired at them.

The Hormuz Letter · View on X
The Hormuz Letter

BREAKING: Iran's IRGC Navy announces it captured one of the US military's newest unmanned submarines at the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz at dawn today, describing it as a "complex intelligence and operational" action, and says the vehicle carries the newest underwater technology in the world and was delivered to the US fleet only in 2025. The vehicle is an Anduril Dive-LD, a six-meter, three-ton survey submarine rated for ten days underwater and 6,000 meters of depth and delivered to the US Navy's unmanned undersea squadron in 2025, with new photos just released showing the white hull intact, half submerged and rigged to a crane sling at an Iranian pier, which means Iran now holds a current-generation US underwater platform in one piece, the same position it was in with the Israeli Hermes 900 it took earlier in the war and handed to IRGC engineers. The US RQ-170 Iran captured in 2011 never left the country either. One of the newest vehicles in the US Navy's undersea inventory is now on a crane hook in an Iranian harbor.

The Hormuz Letter · View on X
The Hormuz Letter

BREAKING: US diesel is now closing in on a $6/gallon national average, for the first time in history, with wholesale prices surging 13 cents/gallon tonight. California could surge past $8/gallon statewide in the coming days, with San Francisco's average hitting an all-time high of $8.23 already. The state average is more than $2.60 higher than a year ago today. Some California pumps are not even built to display what could come next, as they top out at $9.99. This comes as Iran has rejected the latest Trump proposal and launched at least 4 waves of missiles and drones toward the Strait of Hormuz today.

The Hormuz Letter · View on X
Earlier stories load automatically when you reach the bottom.

Fast translations of regional reports are provided for information only. Claims are not independently verified and may be corrected as more information becomes available. Market-data and calculator features are not investment advice.

Report translation errors, duplicate stories, and technical issues through the feedback form.

War & oil statusPublic dataNews sourcesAboutContact & corrections