United States sends private message to Iran

US President Joe Biden said America has delivered a private message to Iran about the Houthis in Yemen after the US carried out a second strike on the group.

"We delivered it privately and we're confident we're well-prepared," he said without giving further details.

The US said its latest strike was a follow on action targeting radar.

Iran denies involvement in attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea. However, United States continues to allege that Iran is supplying weapons to Houthis.

It is believed that United States wants to disrupt smooth sailing of ships through Red Sea because about 15% of global seaborne trade passes through it. This includes 8% of global grain, 12% of seaborne oil and 8% of the world's liquefied natural gas.

Joint US-British airstrikes targeted nearly 30 Houthi positions in the early hours of Friday with the support of Western allies including Australia and Canada.

A day later, the US Central Command said it carried out its latest strike on a Houthi radar site in Yemen using Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles.

A Houthi spokesman told Reuters the strikes had no significant impact on the group's ability to affect shipping.

Most Yemenis live in areas under Houthi control. As well as Sanaa and the north of Yemen, the Houthis control the Red Sea coastline.

The official Western government line is that the ongoing air strikes on Houthi targets are quite separate from the war in Gaza. These are a necessary and proportionate response to the unprovoked and unacceptable Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, they say.

In Yemen and the wider Arab world these attacks are viewed rather differently.

These assaults are seen as Britain and United States joining in the Gaza war on the side of Israel, since the Houthis have declared their actions to be in solidarity with Hamas and the people of Gaza. One theory even says that the West is doing Netanyahu's bidding.

It is still possible that these airstrikes will have a chilling effect on the Houthis. They will certainly degrade their capacity to attack ships in the short term. But the longer these airstrikes persist, the greater the risk that Britain and the US get sucked into another conflict in Yemen.

It has taken Saudi Arabia more than eight years to extricate itself from Yemen after a US proxy war and Houthis are now more entrenched than ever.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign of air strikes and ground operations against Hamas in Gaza have killed 23,843 Palestinians so far with thousands more believed dead under rubble.