Iranian-backed Houthis have claimed a missile attack on the Saudi city of Jizan, hours after Riyadh launched retaliatory air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Early on Saturday, the Houthis' Ansarollah media said on Telegram that a "Yemeni missile strike" had caused fires in Jizan. Saudi authorities had issued emergency alerts for the province. The group had vowed retaliation after Saudi air strikes hit the Yemeni port city of Hodeida and a nearby island on Friday.
“Houthis claim missile strike on Saudi Arabia after Riyadh hits Yemen; US-Iran attacks pause briefly.”
The attack came as, for the first time in two weeks, there were no overnight reports of air strikes by the US or Iran in the wider region. The US military did not announce fresh strikes on Iran on Saturday, having carried out 13 consecutive nights of attacks on the country. During that time, Iran has also launched drone strikes on US military facilities and bases across the Middle East.
Earlier, a delegation from Oman arrived in Iran's capital Tehran for talks on the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported. Oman controls the strait's southern coastline.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday afternoon, Donald Trump continued to threaten further attacks while saying negotiations were continuing. "We are talking to them. I think they're being serious. I think ... they are being by far the most serious that we've seen them, but that doesn't mean we get there," he said. Asked about his exit strategy for the Iran war, Trump said: "There's a military exit where we just keep going just the way we are, and we can even make it a heavier dose, and it's knocking out everything they have. Or there's a smarter strategy that you make a deal." But he added: "We're locked and loaded. We're ready to go."
In the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, the US military said it had fired on and disabled a tanker ship in the Gulf of Oman that was attempting to evade the American blockade on Iranian ports. It is the second commercial ship the US has disabled since it reimposed its blockade earlier this month. "We disabled the tanker after the crew attempted to run the blockade at least four times prior," Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, spokesman for US Central Command, told AFP. "The crew was repeatedly warned, didn't comply, and US forces on scene disabled the ship after firing into its engine room. The ship is no longer transiting to Iran."
Growing concern over new threats to shipping in the Red Sea from Yemen's Houthis helped push the price of crude oil back over $100 a barrel this week – the highest level since May. But it dropped again on Friday afternoon, with Brent futures down more than US$4 to a little over $96.