Qatar pushes US-Iran talks; 12 nations including UK sanction Israeli settlements

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More than 500 people were killed since Yemen's Houthi rebels launched an offensive last week to advance towards the Red Sea, most of them combattants, according to an AFP tally based on sources on both sides.

At least 216 government forces and 278 Houthi fighters were killed since the clashes began, according to sources from both sides who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, in addition to at least 29 civilians.

Israel said Tuesday it would deny entry to 12 Britons if they wish to visit, including Jeremy Corbyn, former Labour Party leader and staunch advocate for Palestinians, in retaliation for UK sanctions targeting settlements.

Israel listed 11 members of parliament on the refuse-entry list. They also included Zarah Sultana, who joined Corbyn in breaking away from the Labour Party to form the left-wing Your Party.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Tuesday said they seized an unmanned American submarine in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has blockaded in the months-long Middle East war.

"The IRGC naval forces captured one of the most modern, unmanned, and smart submarines of the US terrorist army at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz in a complex intelligence and operational action at dawn today," the Guards said in a statement carried by state TV.

The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday welcomed the announcement by 12 countries including France and the UK of trade sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling it "an important step" to accountability.

"This as an important practical step toward holding the settlement system accountable and demonstrating non-recognition of the unlawful situation created by the occupation," Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's office said in a statement.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Tuesday that the UK consulate in Jerusalem will be closed in response to Britain's sanctions on illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

He added that 12 British public officials and citizens will be barred from entering Israel, and that Britain was no longer permitted to participate in the US-led Gaza coordination mission based in Israel.

A local commander in Iran's paramilitary Basij force was killed on Tuesday in a "terrorist attack" in the country's restive southeast, local media reported.

Abdolraouf Eshaghi, a commander in the Parud district of Sistan-Baluchistan province, had been "martyred", Tasnim news agency said, without providing details.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.

On Monday, Iranian authorities had said three people were killed and nine arrested during a raid in the province on hideouts of Islamist groups affiliated with Israel and the United States.

The United States imposed sanctions Tuesday on "all remaining Iranian airlines" that have yet to face such penalties, as Washington pushes to step up economic pressure on Iran during the ongoing war.

The US Treasury Department said its latest action takes aim at "36 targets for supporting Iran's aviation sector, which the regime uses to move weapons, personnel, and illicit cargo."