Iran using network of military agencies to re-arm as Pentagon prepares options for Trump

Yemen Foreign Ministry called on immediate United Nations actions to halt mine laying activity from Houthis in the region in a Friday post on X.

It also called on the UN Development Program to expand mine clearance programs, decontaminate affected areas, and assist victims of Houthi explosives.

"The Ministry strongly condemned, in a memorandum addressed to the UNDP Resident Representative in Yemen, the militia's continued intensive and indiscriminate planting of mines, particularly in villages and populated areas, and held it fully responsible for the humanitarian repercussions arising from these practices," the Friday post read.

Houthi terrorists, the Foreign Ministry charged, have laid camouflaged land mines across Yemen, in mountains, roads, and even in people's homes. It also claimed that women and children were among the near-daily casualites from the bombs.

"The Ministry affirmed that Yemen is among the most mine-contaminated countries in the world due to the militia's ongoing planting of anti-personnel mines, which, along with unexploded ordnance, pose grave dangers to the lives, safety, and livelihoods of the population," the statement added.

Oil prices rose Friday, setting up what will likely be the fourth straight month of price increases as the market reacts to further instability in the transport routes in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude futures rose to $117.62 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures climbed to $113.58. The figures mark nearly a 14% monthly rise for Brent and a 15% increase for WTI.

"The oil market is getting increasingly spooked as we approach the midterms," Ole Hansen, the head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, told Reuters.

The U.S. military is presenting President Donald Trump with strike options in Iran for after the U.S, midterm elections on Nov. 3, a date which Trump has hinted he may resume bombing campaigns in Iran after.

Meanwhile in the Strait of Hormuz, commercial tankers continue to be targeted and struck with drones and other explosives as Iran attempts to wrestle control of the key waterway from the U.S. amidst an American naval blockade.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The Panama-flagged oil tanker Louise 1 caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday after a small boat attached two limpet mines to its hull, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization (UKMTO) reported.

While there were no injuries or environmental damage reported, the tanker's engine room did catch fire, temporarily disabling the craft, according to UKMTO.

The incident occurred on 25 nautical miles northeast of the city of Khasab in Oman.

Though nobody has claimed responsibility for the explosion, it fits a pattern of a recent string of attacks on commercial vessels by Iranian actors in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran claims it is hitting crafts that violate its restrictions on movement in the Strait.

It is, however, the first successful deployment of limpet mines in the Strait since the start of the war in February.

"The apparent ability of a small craft to approach a transiting tanker, deploy explosive devices and withdraw presents a significant security concern, particularly in the Strait's congested shipping lanes," Greece-based maritime risk management group Marisks said in a note on Friday.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, a former senior Pentagon strategist, admitted to leaking classified information about U.S. policies toward Iran and Ukraine to two reporters, Axios reported Thursday.

An internal Pentagon investigation is said to have found that Sylvia admitted to the leaks on video after failing four polygraph tests. War Secretary Pete Hegseth later fired the three-star general.

Sylvia, who served in the Joint Chiefs of Staff's Directorate for Strategy, Plans and Policy, made “unauthorized disclosures to the media,” investigators concluded.

The leaks began as early as June 2025 and involved encrypted Signal messages and a meeting with a reporter at an Arlington, Virginia, diner, according to Axios.

Investigators said Sylvia also used handwritten notes from a classified document to disclose details of U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Thursday the case had been referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

“Classified information is not personal property,” Parnell wrote on X.

“Leaking it for personal, political or professional gain is a betrayal of the trust placed in those responsible for keeping it.”

“Our commitment was not an empty promise,” he added. “We vowed to find you, and we meant it.”