Iran-backed Houthis claim missile attack on Saudi Arabia as regional tensions escalate | Houthis

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for launching a missile attack on the southern Saudi city of Jizan on Saturday, after vowing to retaliate against the kingdom for this week’s attacks.

Meanwhile, Iran reported no attacks on Saturday for the first time after two weeks of US attacks. Iranian Ministry of Health Spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour said in his post on X, “Iran had a peaceful night.” But tensions remain high.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the US and Iran in June appeared to collapse two weeks ago after Iranian attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz led to US attacks on Iran, which in turn led to Iran retaliating against US allies in the region.

The MoU was supposed to reopen the strait closed by Iran during the war and pause hostilities for 60 days to make room for negotiations, but active fighting prevented progress in negotiations. Most of the current conflict is concentrated in the strait, which before the war was the transit point for one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas.

Donald Trump had threatened to expand attacks on Iran, meeting with his top national security advisers on Friday to decide whether the administration should step up attacks.

However, as of Saturday evening, the US president reportedly put aside plans to escalate the attack, at least for now, according to the New York Times.

Iran warned citizens of Gulf countries that host US military facilities to stay away from the bases to protect themselves from future attacks.

On Saturday night, a spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Britain would become a “certain and legitimate target” if it supported the US in any war with Tehran, according to Iranian state broadcaster Irib.

Any country supporting the US in a conflict, including Britain and the Gulf states, would be considered a legitimate target, the spokesman said, adding that US bombers had recently used British airspace.

Trump emphasized Friday that talks with Iran were going well despite the conflict, saying the talks were “the most serious we’ve ever seen.”

While Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the “American approach” was preventing peace talks from progressing, he said Iran “will neither be afraid of threats nor will we bow to pressure.”

As tensions in the strait continued as the US opened fire on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Oman that it said had violated a blockade of Iranian ports, the UK maritime agency reported on Friday an incident between a tanker and military forces, without naming the parties responsible.

Air defense systems in Saudi Arabia intercepted two ballistic missiles coming from Yemen on Saturday, Reuters reported. While the attacks targeted oil refineries in Yanbu on the Red Sea, Saudi civil defense also issued warnings for the port city of Jizan, close to the Yemen border.

In a video circulating on social media, dark clouds were seen rising over a refinery in Jizan owned by Saudi oil giant Aramco. A Yemeni security source told Agence France-Presse that a naval base in Hodeida and a military camp on Kamaran island were targeted by Saudi Arabia on Friday. The Houthis said the attacks were a “dangerous escalation.”

The Iran-backed Houthi movement, which controls northern and western Yemen, declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea last week after the kingdom struck the airport in Sana’a. The Houthis shot down two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea on Thursday, prompting Trump to threaten “major military punishment” against Tehran and the Houthis.

The naval blockade threatens to further disrupt global energy markets as Saudi Arabia avoids closing the strait by diverting millions of barrels of oil to the Red Sea. Oil prices rose above $100 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since May, while the cost of insurance for shipping across the southern Red Sea has doubled for some companies.

Araghchi said on Saturday that there was no military solution to the Saudi-Houthi conflict and that it was “rooted in old disagreements.”

“We believe that there is no military solution to the Yemen issue, Bab al-Mandeb and other regional issues,” Araghchi said in an interview with an Iranian newspaper. He called for more dialogue between the two sides.

Mediators have tried to keep talks alive amid escalating conflict, with Pakistan and Qatar passing messages between the United States and Iran for the past two weeks. The New York Times reported that Iraq offered Tehran a ceasefire, but it was promptly rejected; This report was disputed by Iraq.

It was also reported that Pakistan was pressing for new talks between the two sides after a new dialogue was discovered through China’s diplomatic initiative. According to reports, Iranian interior minister Eskandar Momeni visited Istanbul this week to discuss the issue.