Saudi air defences intercept ballistic missiles as Iran reports first night without US strikes in two weeks
Yemen\u2019s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed a missile attack on the southern Saudi city of Jizan on Saturday, after vowing retaliation against the kingdom for attacks this week.
Iran, meanwhile, reported no strikes overnight on Saturday for the first time after two weeks of US attacks. The Iranian health ministry spokesperson, Hossein Kermanpour, said: \u201cIran had a peaceful night\u201d in a post on X. Tensions, however, remain high.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the US and Iran in June seemed to break down two weeks ago, after Iranian attacks on tankers in the strait of Hormuz prompted US strikes on Iran, which led to Iranian retaliation against US allies in the region. <\/p>\n
The MoU was meant to reopen the strait after its closure by Iran during the war and pause hostilities for 60 days to give room for negotiations, but active fighting has prevented progress in talks. Much of the current fighting has centred on the strait, a transit point for a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and gas prior to the war.
Donald Trump had threatened expanded strikes on Iran, meeting top national security advisers on Friday to decide whether the administration should escalate attacks.
But by Saturday evening, the US president had reportedly, at least for now, set aside plans for an escalated assault, according to the New York Times.
Iran issued warnings to citizens of Gulf countries hosting US military sites to stay away from bases to protect themselves from future attacks.
On Saturday night, a spokesperson \u2060for Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said \u2060that \u200bBritain would become \u2060a \u201cdefinite and legitimate target\u201d if it \u2060supported the \u200bUS \u200cin any \u200cwar with Tehran, \u200caccording to the Iranian state broadcaster, Irib.
The spokesperson said any country, \u200cincluding Britain and Gulf states, \u200bthat backed the US in a conflict \u2060would be considered \u200ba legitimate \u200btarget, adding \u200bthat US \u200bbombers \u200chad recently \u200bused \u200bBritish airfields.
Trump insisted on Friday that, despite the fighting, negotiations with Iran were going well, calling them \u201cby far the most serious that we\u2019ve seen\u201d.
The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the \u201cAmerican approach\u201d was preventing peace talks from proceeding, while vowing Iran was \u201cneither intimidated by threats nor will we yield to pressure\u201d.
Tensions over the strait continued, with the US firing on a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Oman which it said was violating its blockade of Iranian ports, while the UK maritime agency reported an incident between a tanker and military forces on Friday, without specifying the responsible parties.
Air defence systems in Saudi Arabia<\/a> intercepted two ballistic missiles from Yemen on Saturday, Reuters reported. The attacks targeted oil refineries in Yanbu on the Red Sea, while the Saudi civil defence also issued warnings for the port city of Jizan, close to the border with Yemen.
A video circulating on social media showed dark clouds rising above a refinery in Jizan belonging to Aramco, the Saudi oil giant. A Yemeni security source told Agence France-Presse a naval base in Hodeida and a military camp on Kamaran island were targeted by Saudi Arabia on Friday. The Houthis<\/a> said the attacks were a \u201cdangerous escalation\u201d.
The Iran-aligned 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\u2019a. The Houthis struck two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea on Thursday<\/a>, prompting Trump to threaten a \u201cmajor military punishment\u201d for Tehran and the Houthis.
The naval blockade threatens to further upend global energy markets, as Saudi Arabia has been avoiding the closure of the strait by diverting millions of barrels of oil to the Red Sea. Oil prices pushed past $100 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since May, while the cost of shipping insurance through the southern Red Sea doubled for some companies.
Araghchi said on Saturday that there was no military solution to the Saudi-Houthi conflict and that it was \u201crooted in old disputes\u201d.
\u201cWe believe that there is no military solution to the issue of Yemen, Bab al-Mandab and other regional issues<\/a>,\u201d Araghchi said in an interview with an Iranian newspaper. He called for further dialogue between the two sides.
Mediators have tried to keep talks alive amid the escalating fighting, Pakistan and Qatar delivering messages between the US and Iran over the last two weeks. The New York Times reported that Iraq had delivered a ceasefire proposal to Tehran, which was promptly rejected \u2013 a report disputed by Iraq.
Pakistan has also reportedly been pushing for fresh talks between the two sides after a diplomatic initiative by China explored new dialogue. Iran\u2019s interior minister, Eskandar Momeni, visited Istanbul this week to discuss the topic, reports said.<\/p>\n