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Over 3,500 US Troops Arrive In Middle East As Houthis Enter War

Tyler Durden's Photo
by Tyler Durden
Authored...

Summary

  • US troops arrive: More than 3,500 U.S. troops, including the USS Tripoli with about 2,500 Marines, arrived in the Middle East, officials announced Saturday, as strikes in the Iran war intensified

  • Houthis enter the war: Houthis launch their first missile barrage on Israel since Operation Epic Fury. Red Sea shipping could once again be under direct threat.

  • UAE Aluminum plant damaged in Iranian drone strike:  Emirates Global Aluminium - the Middle East’s largest aluminum producer and the biggest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas - said its production plant at Al Taweelah sustained significant damage in an Iranian drone and missile attack on Abu Dhabi. 

  • Serious US casualties in Saudi base assault: Iran fired six ballistic missiles and 29 drones at Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan air base in a Friday attack that wounded at least 15 troops: AP. Late-night strike targeted Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (for third time of war).

  • Gulf states under sustained fire, casualties mount: Six wounded in missile strike on Abu Dhabi; Bahrain intercepts waves of missiles and drones near the United States Fifth Fleet base; Kuwait reports damage to Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port and Shuwaikh Port.

  • US expending billions on Operation Epic Fury: "Battle damage and replacement of losses over the first three weeks of the war likely costs roughly $1.4 billion to $2.9 billion": WSJ. 

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Thousands Of US Troops Arrive In Gulf Region

More than 3,500 U.S. troops, including the USS Tripoli with about 2,500 Marines, arrived in the Middle East, officials announced Saturday, as strikes in the Iran war intensified. The U.S. Central Command said in a social media post that the USS Tripoli, which serves as the flagship for the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group / 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, arrived in its area of responsibility. Central Command said that in addition to the Marines, the Tripoli also brings transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault assets to the region. The USS Boxer and two other ships, along with another Marine Expeditionary Unit, have also been ordered to the region from San Diego.

The Tripoli is the most updated of the amphibious warships, known as a "big deck," which allows more room for F-35 Stealth Fighter Jets, Ospreys and other aircraft. The ship had previously been based in Japan when the order to deploy to the Middle East came almost two weeks ago.

The arrival of the U.S. troops in the region comes after at least 10 U.S. troops, including two who were seriously wounded, were injured when Iran fired six ballistic missiles and 29 drones at Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan air base.

Trump said that he has not decided whether to deploy troops in Iran but he has not ruled out the possibility and is stationing some 7,000 troops, including members of the 82nd Airborne Division.

Meanwhile, the US military said in a social media post on Saturday that it had struck more than 11,000 targets and destroyed more than 150 Iranian vessels since the conflict began.

Iran's Fars news agency reported explosions across several districts of Tehran early Saturday, including strikes near Mehrabad Airport west of the capital. It’s the main hub for domestic flights.

And while Trump says Iran should negotiate peace, he is also saying the US can continue with strikes on the Islamic Republic. On Friday, he said more than 3,500 targets remained in Iran and “that’ll be done pretty quickly.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday the United States can meet its objectives "without any ground troops." But he also said President Trump "has to be prepared for multiple contingencies" and that American forces are available "to give the president maximum optionality and maximum, opportunity to adjust to contingencies should they emerge."

Major U.A.E. Aluminum Plant Damaged in Iranian Strike

Emirates Global Aluminium said its production plant at Al Taweelah sustained significant damage in an Iranian drone and missile attack on Abu Dhabi. Several employees were injured but no one died, the company said. The plant includes a smelter that produced 1.6 million metric tons of cast aluminum in 2025 and a refinery that supplies the smelter with alumina, the metal’s main ingredient. The company had substantial metal stock offshore when the war on Iran began last month as well as in some overseas locations, according to the statement. Emirates Global Aluminium is owned by Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, and the government of Dubai.

EGA is the Middle East’s largest aluminum producer and the biggest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, according to the company’s website. Kezad facilities make up the company’s biggest plant. An aluminum producer in Bahrain, known as Alba, cut production earlier this month because it couldn’t ship metal through the Strait of Hormuz. Norwegian company Norsk Hydro slowed output at its Qatalum smelter in Qatar.

The United Arab Emirates is the fifth-biggest producer of aluminum in the world though it is dwarfed by China, the largest, according to consulting firm Harbor Aluminum. Excluding Iran, the Gulf as a whole smelted about 8% of the world’s aluminum in 2025, commodities brokerage StoneX reported. 

Aluminum prices in London, the benchmark, are 4% higher than on the eve of the war. Other metal prices have fallen on concern that high oil and gas prices will hurt energy-intensive industries that consume metals.

Houthis Enter the War

The Houthis have finally entered the war, greatly raising the stakes on what's becoming a multi-front engagement, given Israel and Hezbollah have already been locked in a ground war in Lebanon. Overnight saw the Houthis send a barrage of missiles on Israel, which is the first such strike since the US began its Operation Epic Fury.

Military spokesman for the Houthis, Brigadier-General Yahya Saree, announced the attack on Saturday on the group's Al Masirah satellite television, Al Jazeera has confirmed. Strikes "will continue until the declared objectives are achieved... and until the aggression against all fronts of the resistance ceases," Saree said, confirming the Iran-aligned Yemeni group's entry into the war on Tehran's side.

Reports: In addition to damaging several air refuelling tankers, the Iranian missile attack of Prince Sultan airbase in Saudi Arabia reportedly damaged an E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft. USAF file image

The Israeli side confirmed the assault out of Yemen, saying that it intercepted one missile. This spells more bad news for global shipping through the other important regional energy and goods transit waterway, the Bab al-Mandab Strait in the Red Sea. It will also make it even harder for Washington to try and wind down the conflict amid efforts to find an acceptable offramp. Interestingly, the Houthis are justifying their actions not just based on the US-Israel attack on Iran, but on assaults on populations in the broader region:

The group said the attack with a barrage of missiles came after continued targeting of infrastructure in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories, adding that their operations would continue until the "aggression" on all fronts ends.

Now Israelis will face aerial threats from Iranians, Hezbollah, Houthis, and Iraqi Shia paramilitaries...

While the Houthis didn’t say they would target tankers or other vessels transiting the southern Red Sea and the Bab El-Mandeb Strait, they have the capability to do so. The group effectively shut the waterway to most Western shippers after the war in Gaza began in 2023, forcing vessels to reroute and disrupting a key shipping corridor. The Saudi port of Yanbu, which the kingdom is using to bypass the closed Strait of Hormuz for its oil exports, is well within the range of Houthi missiles.

For now, the Houthis are likely to avoid targeting Saudi oil sites, New York-based political consultancy Eurasia Group said in a note to clients. The Islamist militants agreed a truce with Saudi Arabia in 2022, which has largely held and involved the Saudi government making some payments to areas under Houthi control.

While the Houthis “need to be seen as participating in the war effort, they remain inclined towards minimizing the downsides of further entanglement in the war and keeping their tacit understanding with Saudi alive,” Eurasia analysts including Firas Maksad said on Saturday. “The Houthis may still target Saudi oil exports under pressure from Iran in case of escalation.”

At Least 15 Americans Wounded in Major Strikes on Saudi Base

The most significant overnight development saw major Iranian cross-Gulf attacks emerge. This is a serious escalation despite the White House having approached Tehran with a 15-point peace plan, delivered via Pakistan. The Iranians have clearly rejected it for now, and have instead launched a serious assault on Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia Friday.

The Wall Street Journal details that "Twelve American troops–up from 10 previously reported–were wounded in an Iranian attack on the Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia Friday, according to multiple U.S. and Arab officials."

The AP in follow up issued higher figures: "Iran fired six ballistic missiles and 29 drones at Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan air base in a Friday attack that wounded at least 15 troops, including five seriously, according to the sources who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. U.S. officials initially reported that at least 10 U.S. troops were injured, including two seriously wounded."

"The injured troops were inside a building on the base that was struck in the attack, the officials said," the report continues. "The attack also damaged multiple U.S. refueling aircraft. At least one missile struck the base, as well as several unmanned aerial vehicles, according to two of the officials." This marks the second significant strike on the same base. The aircraft hit was a KC-135 air refueling aircraft, which reportedly caught fire.

The mass casualty incident has raised ongoing questions of troop exposure and Pentagon preparedness for Iran's response:

Fresh Attacks on Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Kuwait

Iran's missile war has continued expanding deeper into the Gulf, with the casualty count climbing in Abu Dhabi after an early Saturday strike. The Abu Dhabi Media Office confirms casualties (injuries, but no fatalities reported) have risen to six after a Saturday morning ballistic missile attack.

Elsewhere, in Bahrain, home to the United States Fifth Fleet, authorities reported air defenses have engaged almost nonstop over the past 24 hours, responding to 20 missiles and 23 drones.

Post raises question over future of Iran's nuclear program, with one Iranian proclaiming "The war will boost Iranian science and technology."

Kuwait has also taken fresh hits, with the ports of Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port and Shuwaikh Port sustaining damage amid combined drone and missile attacks, according to the Defense Ministry. Kuwaiti forces say they have also engaged four ballistic missiles, one cruise missile, and seven drones in the same window - in yet another sign the tempo is only accelerating.

Bushehr Nuclear Plant Hit for Third Time

Late-night strike targets Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, marking the third hit in 10 days as pressure mounts on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure - and as especially Israel seeks to obliterate it as fast as possible. Iran's Atomic Energy Organization of Iran claims the attack caused no material damage, no casualties, as well as zero technical disruption at the facility.

And the International Atomic Energy Agency says it was notified by Tehran following the strike, underscoring continued monitoring even as attacks edge closer to sensitive nuclear sites. President Trump has meanwhile said that thousands of targets inside remain on the Pentagon's list.

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