Houthi rebels take control of Yemen's Mokha port

The Iran-backed Houthi rebel group has taken over Yemen's strategic port city of Mokha. Meanwhile, Sun Lei, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations calls for the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomacy.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebel group took over Yemen's port city of Mokha, Houthi and Yemeni officials said.

Mokha is about 80 kilometres from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic waterway between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden through which about 12% of the world's oil and other goods are shipped.

The Bab el-Mandeb has become even more important for global energy supplies since shipping through the nearby Strait of Hormuz was disrupted by Iran after it was attacked by the US and Israel in February.

Hans Grundberg, the United Nations envoy to Yemen, warned that the nation now faces the "harsh reality" of a return to war.

Grundberg told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that the international community must address this "new and more dangerous phase one whose consequences, if left unchecked, will not stay within Yemen's borders."

Meanwhile, Sun Lei, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations called for the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomacy.

He said repeated hostilities in the Middle East have caused serious harm and losses to the peoples of countries in the region, including Iran, while the spillover effects continue to expand, undermining the common interests of the international community.

He said the parties concerned should renounce the use or threat of force, Resume implementation of the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding as soon as possible, and bring the Iranian nuclear issue back onto the track of a political and diplomatic solution.

Elsewhere, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps said its naval forces had targeted a US unmanned surface vehicle in the Strait of Hormuz.

The IRGC said the Saildrone Explorer-type USV was on an "aggressive mission" and was struck at the strait's entrance.

The US military said the captured unmanned underwater vehicle had a malfunction more than a day ago and was not carrying any sensitive data or classified equipment.