The conflict in Yemen intensified on Sunday, as government forces launched attacks against Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea and Houthis fired into neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen's government.

The Yemeni government vowed to send more forces to the Red Sea coast and one official conceded a "painful" defeat last week when Houthis captured the port city of Mokha and an island on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

Houthi fighters on Sunday said they used drones and missiles to attack a military base in southern Saudi Arabia as renewed fighting with Yemen's government forces forced growing numbers of civilians to flee.

Iraqi authorities announced on Sunday a timeline to reopen three crossings with Iran, a day after closing them following a drone attack originating from their shared border on a Saudi pipeline.

After the Friday night attack on the East-West pipeline, Baghdad sacked the military commander in Missan province near the Iran border, after authorities determined the drones were launched from there.

A ship was struck in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, killing one person and injuring three, local Iranian authorities said, as Tehran and Washington clash over the strategic waterway.

Iran's foreign ministry said the country would meet with Gulf states in Oman on Monday to discuss the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which the Islamic republic has blockaded during the Middle East war.

The Iran-backed Houthis controlled Yemen's entire Red Sea coast on Saturday after capturing three strategic islands in a lightning offensive the previous day, cementing their hold on a vital shipping corridor linking Europe and Asia.

Saudi authorities said drones launched from Iraq led to the temporary closure of a crucial oil export route used to bypass the lockdown of the Strait of Hormuz.

Riyadh has increased its use of the East-West pipeline, which links Abqaiq, near the Gulf, to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, since the start of the Middle East war to bypass the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday that pressure on his country from the United States had reached a critical and dangerous stage, speaking in India ahead of a Brics summit.

An adviser to Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei called the advance in Yemen by Tehran-backed Houthi fighters a "resounding victory" on Friday, after they seized a key island in the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait.

A group in Yemen attempted to use Anthropic's Claude chatbot to build guided rockets and missiles, the U.S. firm has revealed, as Iran-backed Houthi rebels are on the offensive in the country.