War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

The Houthis claim Saudi-led coalition forces carried out 72 air strikes over the past 24 hours in the governorates of Saada, Taiz, Lahij and al-Jawf, Al Jazeera reports.

That raises the total number of air strikes and missile attacks since fighting renewed over the summer in Yemen to 5,020, military spokesman Yahya Saree posted on X.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Tel Aviv “must remove this existential threat from above our heads once and for all”, according to a post on his X account.

He made the remarks in a meeting with Israeli opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot on Thursday, where he stressed the need for a national unity government.

“The Iranian regime, which seeks to destroy Israel, is once again working to revive its nuclear programme,” Netanyahu writes, warning that Tehran will do so once it is able to resume enriching uranium and developing nuclear weapons. “And let this be clear: this murderous regime, which did not hesitate to murder many thousands of its own people, will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons against us.”

Antony Blinken, formerly Washington’s top diplomat, says that in resolving the Strait of Hormuz crisis, a solution will mean giving concessions to Iran.

“On the Strait of Hormuz, which was not a problem before this war started, now it’s a problem that has to be dealt with and the resolution almost certainly gives Iran something,” he says on a panel discussion. “I would hate to have to do this, but it might just be the reality: a toll that’s not called a toll.”

Former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called Washington’s military campaign against Iran a “mistake”, noting that every previous administration looked at it as a last resort.

“Something that President Trump chose, military action, I think … was a mistake, because every previous administration had looked at it and decided that it needed to be a last resort, because even if you did it, you could set Iran back for a little while, but you would really likely only get a setback of a couple of years,” Blinken says on a panel discussion, footage of which has been shared by Iran’s Fars News Agency.

“The programme would have been more deeply buried underground and they would come back and do even more.”

The US Mission in Saudi Arabia has issued a nationwide security alert urging Americans to exercise “heightened vigilance,” citing an increased threat of attacks by Houthis, Anadolu reports.

The mission says Houthi attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure in Saudi Arabia have “caused civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions”, warning that hostilities could spread “rapidly”.

“Please take extreme caution if you choose to use airports in Saudi Arabia,” the mission adds, urging travellers to confirm their flight status directly with both their airline and the airport.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has accused the US of trying to starve Iranians, referring to remarks by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio from earlier this week in which he said Iranians “eventually have to eat” and need to make a deal to end economic pressure by Washington.

He writes on X that Rubio is “openly and insolently threatening to starve Iranians through a blockade” and calls the comments “yet another admission that Washington is pursuing war crimes, compounding the atrocities it has already committed in its wars of aggression and economic terrorism against Iran”.

“After decades of failed coercion, threats, sanctions, terrorism, and aggression, the United States continues to repeat the same mistakes, merely repackaging them under new names,” Baqaei writes, saying that Washington’s approach is a “textbook example” of a ’“March of Folly: a government persisting in a disastrous course of action, refusing to learn from its failures, and becoming even more entrenched in its mistakes with every successive defeat”.

Iranian Finance Minister Seyed Ali Madanizadeh says US threats against Iran’s economy are “ineffective” and just an attempt to create “pressure”, Al Jazeera reports citing the semi-official Mehr News Agency.

He says that the country has stockpiles of basic goods and exports are rising, along with trade with neighbouring countries.

Iranian Vice President for Legal Affairs Majid Ansari has emphasised that Tehran only seeks fair treatment and respect for its nuclear rights, as well as territorial sovereignty and authority over the Strait of Hormuz, state news agency IRNA reports.

He has expressed hope that the US, instead of resorting to threats, will “show respect for the Iranian nation and deal with Iran in accordance with international laws and principles”, IRNA adds.

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree has claimed that the group targeted Saudi-led forces in Yemen’s Lahj governorate with ballistic missiles.

“The strikes were precise and direct … leaving dozens dead and wounded and destroying a large number of vehicles,” he writes on X.

Iran has shot down a US MQ-1 drone over Qeshm Island, claiming that it is the 17th such unmanned aerial vehicle it has destroyed, according to state broadcaster Press TV.

It cites a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) public relations office, which says the reconnaissance and combat drone was shot down by an advanced air defence system operated by the IRGC Aerospace Force, calling the interception “another failure of enemy reconnaissance missions”.

Iran and the United States should “immediately” allow fertiliser shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to ease the crisis in some of the most vulnerable countries, a senior UN official has said, AFP reports.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the UN Office for Project Services, told the COP31 climate talks in the Turkish resort city of Antalya that the lack of fertilisers could push millions into poverty.

“They should continue their negotiations about the comprehensive deal — but that deal should not avoid an immediate, exceptional, limited, and time-bound solution for the fertilisers,” he said.

“Basically what we need is five vessels a day with fertilisers,” he added.

The Saudi-led coalition says two Houthis drones have been intercepted in the kingdom’s Riyadh and southern regions.

Yemen’s government-aligned forces say they have repelled a Houthi attack in the southwestern province of Lahj, while state-run media reports airstrikes targeting Houthi reinforcements in the neighbouring Taiz province, according to Anadolu.

The government-aligned Giants Brigades say they “repelled a Houthi attack in the Al-Mudharaba district” in Lahj. The forces have also posted a video on Facebook that they claim shows Houthi fighters fleeing after the attack was repelled.

The forces’ statement comes after the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Friday that the ongoing military escalation has displaced more than 340,000 people since August.

Iran’s navy said an oil tanker caught fire after hitting a naval mine in the eastern Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media reported, Reuters reports.

Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the possible resumption of attacks on Iran with Gadi Eisenkot, who has been tasked with forming the next government, Israeli media reports.

According to Channel 12, Netanyahu held the meeting Thursday and sought to share intelligence on Iran with Eisenkot.

The broadcaster cited an “informed” source who said the intelligence “could change his view” of Netanyahu’s motives for resuming attacks.

Eisenkot was not aware that Mossad chief Roman Gofman was visiting Washington to discuss the issue, said Channel 12.

The Russian and Chinese ambassadors to the United Nations have expressed concern over US and Israeli threats of renewed hostilities against Iran, stressing the need to pursue political and diplomatic means to establish peace, IRNA reports.

The UN Security Council held a meeting on Friday on the “Situation in the Middle East” at the request of Bahrain.

China’s Ambassador Fu Cong said that the risk of a large-scale conflict breaking out in the region remains high, adding that recent rhetoric suggesting the possibility of renewed hostilities against Iran is particularly concerning.

Iran’s Navy says a tanker caught fire and was immobilised after hitting a naval mine while sailing in a prohibited area east of the Strait of Hormuz despite previous warnings, state media reports.

In a statement on Saturday, the Navy said the vessel had switched off its tracking and identification systems while transiting the unsafe zone.

It warned that any tanker entering the prohibited area would face the same fate, criticizing owners for risking their assets based on the “nonsense” of US President Donald Trump.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations has slammed Western members of the Security Council for their “hypocrisy and double standards,” demanding that the United States immediately end its war of aggression and lift its illegal naval blockade if it is genuinely committed to diplomacy, state media reports.

Addressing a Security Council meeting on Friday regarding rising tensions in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, Gholamhossein Darzi stressed that the root causes of the current situation are the unprovoked wars of aggression launched by the US and the Israeli regime on June 13, 2025, and February 28, 2026.

“The US is the aggressor, not the victim,” Darzi declared, condemning the assassination of Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, senior officials, and nuclear scientists.

The UK says the situation in Yemen requires a diplomatic solution, calling on the Houthis to immediately halt their military offensives and support an inclusive, UN-led political process, Al Jazeera reports.

US President Donald Trump does not want to resume the war with Iran “for now,” as his administration maintains economic and military pressure on Tehran, according to a media report.

Citing a US official, The Washington Post reported that Trump has received several daily intelligence briefings since the midterm elections.

“It’s become pretty clear that Trump does not want to go back to war for now,” the official said.

The report said the administration had settled on a middle path of no new war, no talks and no lasting peace as the conflict entered its eighth month.

Iran’s navy and Revolutionary Guards said that fires had broken out on a total of three oil tankers that struck mines in the Strait of Hormuz, where Tehran has restricted navigation, AFP reports.

Since war erupted with the United States in February, Tehran has insisted that vessels obtain its authorisation to cross the strait and has attacked ships that do not comply.

“A short while ago, two oil tankers that had switched off their radar and positioning systems and were secretly attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz through an unauthorised route exploded and caught fire after striking a naval mine,” the Guards’ navy said in a statement.

A separate statement from Iran’s conventional navy said another tanker “navigating through the unsafe and prohibited zone east of the Strait of Hormuz with its tracking and identification systems switched off, caught fire and was forced to stop after striking a naval mine”.

A UN official warned that growing tensions and attacks on commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab threaten international peace and security, regional stability and the global economy, Anadolu reports.

Khaled Khiari, assistant secretary-general for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, told the UN Security Council virtually that maritime incidents had continued to increase, with commercial vessels facing different forms of attacks and numerous ships and their crews stranded inside the Gulf for months.

“Civilian vessels and commercial shipping must not become targets,” he said, reiterating warnings by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the risks posed by continued tensions in the strategically important waterways.

US President Donald Trump will discuss the Iran war with his Chinese and Russian counterparts in trilateral talks in China next week, but is not expected to talk about Russia’s war on Ukraine, a senior US official said, AFP reports.

“I think the president does intend to talk about Iran in the trilateral meeting with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin,” the US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters on a call ahead of Thursday’s meeting in Shenzhen.