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Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement has expanded its rapid advance along Yemen's Red Sea coast, reportedly seizing not just the strategic port city of Mokha but broader control of the coastline and a key alternative shipping route, amid separate escalating tensions over Iran's confrontation with US forces and vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. The gains bring the group closer to dominating the region's shipping lanes and heighten fears of a wider disruption to global trade. Iran's Foreign Ministry announced it will hold talks on the Strait of Hormuz with Gulf states in Oman on Monday, describing the meeting as an effort to 'promote better understanding among the countries of the region.' The planned discussions mark the first significant diplomatic move to de-escalate tensions in the strait since the recent confrontations began.