Houthis must cease strikes against Saudi Arabia - G7

The foreign ministers of the G7 have condemned the "unacceptable continued strikes" waged from Yemen against Saudi Arabia and urged the Iran-backed Houthi rebels to immediately hold fire.

"We call on the Houthis to immediately cease all military actions, all threats and attacks against civilian shipping, and to return to the political process in good faith," the leaders representing Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States said in a statement.

They also called on Iran "to end its arming of and support for the Houthis," alleging Iran is in violation of past UN Security Council resolutions.

Fighting in Yemen between the Houthis and government forces supported by Saudi Arabia has killed 154 people in the past two days, military sources from both sides said today.

"The death toll from Saudi airstrikes, clashes and artillery fire in the governorates of Taiz, Al-Jawf, Marib and Saada stands at 118," Houthi military sources said, while government sources reported 36 killed in their ranks.

Earlier, Saudi strikes on the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha killed at least six people and wounded eight others, the Houthi-affiliated news agency Saba reported.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement has staged a lightning offensive in recent weeks to take over Yemen's entire Red Sea coast, including Mokha, leaving the Saudi-backed government scrambling to respond.

The head of Yemen's governing body Rashad al-Alimi held a call with US President Donald Trump to request US support against the pro-Iranian fighters, a source in Mr Alimi's office said.

Mr Trump did not promise military support, the source said, adding that the call took place on Sunday and was intended as a show of solidarity with Yemen's embattled government.

US media has reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also urged Mr Trump to strike the Houthis.

Yesterday, media reports said that British Prime Minister Andy Burnham agreed to give military support to Saudi Arabia.

Macron says Trump 'willing' to reopen Strait of Hormuz

French President Emmanuel Macron said last night that he had had "very constructive" talks with his US counterpart Donald Trump on the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Mr Macron spoke with Mr Trump after arriving in New York ahead of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

"We had a very good discussion. It was very constructive," he told reporters after the meeting.

Mr Macron said there was a "willingness to reopen (the Strait of) Hormuz," a vital shipping route for the world's oil and gas, which has been blockaded by Iran during the war in the Middle East.

"Several solutions were discussed ... which would make it possible, without a comprehensive deal, to find ways and means of allowing more container ships and tankers to go through," Macron said without giving additional details.

"The other issue we talked about was the situation in the Red Sea... It's important for global prices," he said.

The Red Sea has become a key oil shipping route with the Strait of Hormuz blocked, but the takeover of a key strait by the Houthis has complicated shipping operations there.

The war in the Middle East began on 28 February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, after which the Islamic republic responded with attacks around the region.

Iran-backed groups including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon also later became involved.

The war in impoverished Yemen, which began in 2014 with the Houthi capture of the capital Sanaa, had been largely frozen since 2022 but resumed in July.

Saudi Arabia has led a coalition backing the internationally recognised government since 2015. Its intervention escalated the war, which has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.