Saudi Arabia, Houthis exchange fire after US fires on tanker in Strait of Hormuz

The Iran-backed Houthis announced a missile attack on Saudi Arabia after Riyadh attacked targets linked to the group last Friday.

Early on Saturday, the Houthis’ Ansarullah media said in a telegram that a “Yemeni missile attack” had caused a fire in the Saudi city of Jizan. Saudi authorities have issued an emergency alert for the kingdom.

The group vowed to retaliate after Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes on Houthi targets in the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah and a nearby island on Friday.

For the first time in two weeks, there were no overnight reports of US or Iranian airstrikes in the wider region.

The US military did not announce a new attack on Iran on Saturday, ending 13 consecutive nights of attacks against the country. During this time, Iran launched drone attacks on US military facilities and military bases in the Middle East.

Earlier, a delegation from Oman arrived in Iran’s capital, Tehran, on the coast of Hormuz, Iran’s state-run Irana news agency reported. Oman dominates the southern coast of the coast.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday afternoon, Trump said negotiations were continuing and continued to threaten further attacks.

“That’s what we’re talking about. I think they’re serious. I think … they’re becoming the most serious issues we’ve ever seen, but that doesn’t mean we’re there yet,” he said.

Asked about his exit strategy for war with Iran, Trump said: “There is a military exit where we can just continue the way we are, and we can make it even more severe, and it’s knocking out everybody they have. Or there’s a smart strategy where you can make a deal.”

But he added, “We’re locked and loaded. We’re ready to go.”

In the Sea of ​​Hormuz on Friday, the US military said it had shot down an oil tanker that was trying to escape the protection of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman.

The ship it attacked was the second merchant ship the United States has disabled since it lifted its embargo earlier this month.

“We have disabled the ship,” US Central Command spokesman Tim Hawkins told AFP.

“The ship’s crew was repeatedly warned, disobeyed and disabled by the US forces on site after firing into its engine compartment,” he said. “The ship will no longer go to Iran.”

Rising fears of a new threat from Yemen’s Houthis in the Red Sea helped push crude oil prices back above $100 (£74.96) this week – the highest level since May.

But it fell again on Friday afternoon, with Brent futures falling slightly from US$4 (£3.00) to $96 (£72.07), according to the Reuters news agency, after the fall was triggered by two Chinese chartered supertankers sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

“The Saudi enemy’s attack on civilian facilities in Hodeidah and Qamaran Island is dangerous,” the Houthis’ Ansarullah media said in a telegram following the firefight early Saturday, adding, “We will ensure that these latest crimes will not go unanswered.”

Saudi officials did not immediately respond.

The BBC understands that the US and the UK are to hold a conference in London next week to discuss the Strait of Hormuz. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Kane will attend the conference, as reported by Axios.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with the US president at the White House on Tuesday.

In June, the United States and Iran agreed to a 14-point memorandum of understanding (MOU) to end military operations and open the Strait of Hormuz, as well as an agreement to end hostilities within the next 60 days.

But three weeks after it was signed, Trump declared the ceasefire “over” after Iran attacked ships off the coast, and the US responded.