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Iran-backed Houthis claim missile attack on Saudi Arabia as regional tensions escalate
Saudi Arabia struck the port city of Hodeida in Yemen in response to Iranian-backed Houthi rebel attacks on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea. Photograph: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters View image in fullscreen Saudi Arabia struck the port city of Hodeida in Yemen in response to Iranian-backed Houthi rebel attacks on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea. Photograph: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters Iran-backed Houthis claim missile attack on Saudi Arabia as regional tensions escalate Saudi air defences intercept ballistic missiles as Iran reports first night without US strikes in two weeks Yemen’s 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: “Iran had a peaceful night” 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. 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’s oil and gas prior to the war. The US president, Donald Trump, threatened expanded strikes on Iran, meeting top national security advisers on Friday to decide whether the administration should escalate attacks. He has warned he could widen the scope of targets in Iran to include civilian infrastructure such as Iranian energy plants and bridges, as well as launch a ground operation to seize Kharg Island, one of Iran’s largest oil export terminals. “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,” Trump told reporters on Friday. 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 for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that Britain would become a “definite and legitimate target” if it supported the US in any war with Tehran, according to the Iranian state broadcaster, Irib. The spokesperson said any country, including Britain and Gulf states, that backed the US in a conflict would be considered a legitimate target, adding that US bombers had recently used British airfields. Trump insisted on Friday that, despite the fighting, negotiations with Iran were going well, calling them “by far the most serious that
