Iranian forces' threat to ships in the crucial Strait of Hormuz has driven up payments for the insurance that underpins the world freight industry.

Here are facts and figures about how maritime insurance works -- and the impact from the war sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which has virtually cut off shipping in the strait.

- Insurance available -

Seafarers' helplines say they are overwhelmed with messages from crews stuck in the Gulf by the Middle East war, desperately seeking repatriation, compensation and onboard supplies.

"Writing to urgently inform you that our vessel is currently facing a critical situation regarding provisions and one crew health conditions," read an email from one seafarer on March 24 to the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF)'s Seafarer Support team.

March 28 (Reuters) - The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, the Washington Post reported Saturday, citing U.S. officials.

The plans could involve raids by Special Operations and conventional infantry troops, the Post reported. Whether President Donald Trump would approve any of those plans remains uncertain, according to the Post.

By Menna AlaaElDin, Nayera Abdallah and Humeyra Pamuk

CAIRO/DUBAI, March 29 (Reuters) - The risk of an expanded Iran war grew on Saturday as Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday launched their first attacks on Israel since the start of the conflict, even as additional U.S. forces reached the Middle East.

In a classroom turned shelter for displaced families, teenager Ahmad Melhem follows a recorded lesson on a tablet as the war between Hezbollah and Israel interrupts education for hundreds of thousands of students in Lebanon.

"I don't want to regret not finishing my studies despite the difficult circumstances," said Melhem, whose family was displaced from Beirut's southern suburbs, the site of repeated Israeli bombardment.

"We took a risk and went back to get schoolbooks," he told AFP.

CAIRO, March 28 (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they carried out a second attack on Israel in less than 24 hours using missiles and drones, and vowed to continue military operations in the coming days, the group's military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised speech.

The Houthis' entry into the conflict adds to regional tensions, particularly given their ability to strike targets far beyond Yemen and disrupt shipping lanes around the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea, as they did in support of Hamas in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, attacks.

By Nathan Layne

GRAPEVINE, Texas, March 28 (Reuters) - Iranian opposition figure Reza Pahlavi on Saturday warned that negotiating for peace with the current leaders of Iran would only push the threat to Americans down the road, and said he would once again call for Iranians to protest in the streets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that his country had "undoubtedly changed the geopolitical situation" in the Middle East with a series of decade-long defence agreements with Gulf states being hit with Iranian drones and missiles.

Has he? And how important are the agreements for Ukraine, more than four years into the Russian invasion and facing its own maelstrom of military, economic and diplomatic challenges?

Hundreds gathered in Tel Aviv and some other Israeli cities on Saturday to protest the war in the Middle East, in unauthorised demonstrations that security forces sought to disperse.

Weekly protests against the war launched by Israel and the United States against Iran on February 28 have been taking place in Tel Aviv and elsewhere, initially drawing only a few dozen participants.

Numbers now appear to be rising, though they are far from the tens of thousands who filled the streets last year to protest the war in Gaza.

By Menna AlaaElDin, Nayera Abdallah and Humeyra Pamuk

CAIRO/DUBAI, March 28 (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis launched missiles at Israel on Saturday, their first such attack since the start of the Iran war, heightening the risk that a conflict now in its fifth week could expand further across the region.

Speaking before the strike, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States expected to conclude military operations within weeks. The Houthis said they would continue their operations until the "aggression" on all fronts ended.