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Red Sea Fighting Traps Two Oil Ships in Houthi Waters
Decaying vessel FSO Safer is moored off Yemen’s coast in this undated screengrab taken from a video. Photo: Holm Akhdar/Handout via REUTERS
Two tankers, containing oil and toxic waste, are stuck in the Red Sea in the firing line between Western naval forces and Yemen’s Houthi terrorists despite repeated efforts by the United Nations to empty and move the ships to avoid a spill.
The vessels, one of which has been stranded for years, are near the port of Ras Issa from where Iran-aligned Houthis launch missiles on ships passing through the Red Sea and where US missiles land as they target the Houthis.
The United Nations last year led efforts to remove a million barrels of oil from the decaying tanker, the FSO Safer, to a new tanker, the MT Yemen, in an operation that cost $121 million.
The UN had hoped to move the FSO Safer, which still contains toxic waste water and oily residue, for disposal elsewhere and sell the oil aboard the MT Yemen.
Neither of the ships has moved since August as the Houthis and their foes in Yemen’s internationally-recognized government could not agree who should receive the money for the oil, a Houthi source speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters.
The source also said there was no an agreement to tow the ship away.
The UN Development Program said it was in discussion “with all relevant parties in Yemen” about the handover of the vessel.
“[UNDP] has not had any indication from the de facto authorities in Yemen of threats to deliberately damage the vessel,” a UNDP spokesperson said, referring to the Houthis.
A source with the internationally recognized Yemeni government, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said he believed the Houthis have refused to release either of the ships and were using them to increase their bargaining power.
TOXIC SLUDGE
A former supertanker built in the 1970s, the FSO Safer was converted into a floating storage and offloading facility for oil before the outbreak of civil war in Yemen in 2014.
It is so decayed its rotting hull threatened to spill its cargo into the Red Sea.
Last year, the United Nations contracted Dutch-based SMIT Salvage, which removed the oil. Belgium’s Euronav provided the MT Yemen vessel.
The toxic sludge and wash water used to scrub oil out of the tanker have still not been removed, a shipping source said.
He asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter and added that some 70,000 metric tons of residue were still onboard the FSO Safer.
A spokesperson for Boskalis, the parent company of SMIT salvage, said it had been contracted to remove the oil but not the Safer vessel.
Belgium’s Euronav has maintained a crew onboard the MT Yemen since August under its contract with the UN.
“Once the handover process is complete, the crew will leave,” the UNDP spokesperson said.
Euronav said it continued to assist the UNDP to safely handover the MT Yemen. It did not specify who might ultimately receive the ship.
The post Red Sea Fighting Traps Two Oil Ships in Houthi Waters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
The post Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
TRUMP THREAT
Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
The post Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
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