War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Riyadh’s Ambassador Khaled Alsharif participated in the 52nd Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, which denounced Houthi attacks on the kingdom, its ministry says.

More than 250,000 people have been internally displaced in Yemen since the war reignited, Al Jazeera reports citing the UN.

“UNHCR is obviously deeply concerned about the escalating displacement situation,” Matthew Saltmarsh, spokesman for the UN Refugee Agency, tells a press conference in Geneva. “The numbers [of] displaced have now reached over 250,000. These are people who have been internally displaced in Yemen between August 1 and October 17.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has secured the delivery of an additional 200,000 tonnes of diesel per month from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain during a tour of the Gulf, AFP reports citing the French presidency.

He has obtained commitments for around 100,000 tonnes per month from the UAE, while an additional 100,000 tonnes monthly will be secured during the stop in Bahrain, the Elysee Palace says.

With the addition of deliveries from Saudi Arabia, France has commitments for 295,000 tonnes per month, representing just over 10 per cent of its consumption, the presidency adds.

The United Nations insists that aid must immediately be allowed to enter Yemen’s third-biggest city Taiz, besieged by Houthi fighters blocking all supplies, AFP reports.

“Humanitarian aid must be immediately allowed to enter the city and its passage must be facilitated,” UN rights chief Volker Turk says in a statement, warning that civilians were being placed “at grave risk”.

Airlines are cancelling flights to Saudi Arabia following the deadly attacks on Riyadh airport by Yemen’s Houthis earlier this week, extending disruption to air travel across the region, Reuters reports.

The airport has reopened, but airlines are required to seek permission from Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority for any departures or landings.

The main US oil contract has soared more than five per cent in trading on increased concerns over tight supplies as a result of the Middle East conflict, AFP reports.

West Texas Intermediate has surged 5.7pc to $109.60 per barrel.

The main international benchmark, Brent North Sea crude, has jumped 2pc to $111.69 per barrel.

Iran warned that any US military attack would be met with retaliation, dismissing claims that Washington had conveyed a message expecting Tehran not to respond to a potential strike, Anadolu reports.

Speaking at his weekly press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei described suggestions that the US could attack Iran without facing retaliation as an “illusion.”

Baqaei rejected claims that Washington had sent a message based on the premise that Iran should refrain from responding to a potential US attack.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said it had received a report of an incident involving a tanker and military forces approximately 121 nautical miles east of Duqm in Oman, Reuters reports.

Reports indicated the tanker was subject to interaction as part of ongoing military activity in the region, it added.

Britain will deploy Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets on defensive counter-air missions to help protect Saudi cities and critical infrastructure from Houthi aerial attacks, the Ministry of Defence said, Reuters reports.

More than 250,000 people have been internally displaced in Yemen since the civil war reignited, the United Nations said, AFP reports.

Yemen’s civil war — in which a Saudi-led military coalition supports the government against the Iran-backed Houthis — reignited in July, months into the US-Iran conflict that has plunged the Middle East into crisis.

After an uneasy, four-year truce, Yemen’s conflict has surged back to life and then intensified when the Houthis seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month.

Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir has arrived in Tehran, Iranian state television reported, according to AFP.

According to state television, CDF Munir arrived alongside “a delegation of officials from his country”.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards said that their naval mines halted two tankers attempting to travel the Strait of Hormuz via routes considered illegal by Tehran, AFP reports.

“Two violating oil tankers were set ablaze and halted due to the explosion of mines planted by the brave sailors of the IRGC Navy at an illegal crossing point in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz,” the Guards said in a statement published on their official Sepah News website.

Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir was expected in Tehran today, Iranian authorities say, according to AFP.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said talks with CDF Munir “relate to issues concerning the negotiations, but they are mainly focused on bilateral relations and strengthening interactions and cooperation”.

The visit comes as diplomatic efforts between Iran and the United States have stalled over issues including the future of the Strait of Hormuz.

Two tankers have been set ablaze and brought to a halt south of the Strait of Hormuz after hitting Iranian mines, the Revolutionary Guards’ Navy has said in a statement shared by state media on Tuesday, without saying when the tankers were hit.

The statement also says a US drone was downed by Iran on Monday night.

Speaking at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of Government in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref says the international system is facing unprecedented challenges due to unilateral actions by some countries, IRNA reports.

He adds that the US and Israel have violated fundamental principles of international law and the UN Charter, threatening regional and global peace and security.

Aref has stressed that attacks on civilian infrastructure, educational and medical facilities, economic installations, and peaceful nuclear facilities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency set a dangerous precedent for international security.

He notes that Iran has exercised its inherent right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, while emphasising that Tehran prefers peace to confrontation.

US special envoy Tom Barrack said that Washington is providing logistical support to Saudi Arabia, but a US ground intervention in the conflict involving Yemen’s Houthis “appears pointless,” Anadolu reports.

Speaking at the Global Security Forum in Doha, Qatar, Barrack, who serves as US ambassador to Türkiye and special presidential envoy for Syria and Iraq, said President Donald Trump supports Saudi Arabia logistically amid escalating hostilities between the kingdom and the Houthi group.

He also urged Middle Eastern countries to establish regional alliances rather than rely on Washington to resolve their problems.

Saudi forces intercepted a ballistic missile aimed at the kingdom’s capital, said a spokesman for the Riyadh-led coalition backing Yemen’s government, after authorities issued a danger warning and AFP journalists reported hearing blasts.

The kingdom “intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh”.

The Saudi capital was shaken by two blasts, according to AFP journalists, after authorities issued an alert warning of potential danger.

“A warning has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform in Riyadh City to alert for a potential danger,” the Saudi civil defence said in a statement on X.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has discussed Iran with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an unannounced visit to Israel on Monday, three Israeli officials say, as tensions flare between the US and Iran, Reuters reports.

The officials did not provide further details about the meeting, first reported by Axios. The Pentagon has declined to comment. The Israeli prime minister’s office has not immediately responded to a request for comment.

Hegseth said in a social media post that he had visited US service members in the Central Command area of responsibility, which covers the Middle East, northeast Africa and parts of Asia.

Israel’s Army Radio has reported his meeting with Netanyahu took place at an air force base in Israel’s southern desert.

Investment in alternative logistics routes in the Gulf to mitigate the impact of the Iran war could make the Strait of Hormuz “redundant” in the next five years, HSBC Group Chief Executive Georges Elhedery says, Reuters reports.

The conflict has highlighted the world’s heavy reliance on the strategic waterway, through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas trade previously passed.

It is forcing Gulf nations to channel resources towards the development of energy pipelines to ports, investments that Elhedery says will allow the region to weather the fallout from the conflict.

“We do see this region being able to recover and then continue growing. It will mean a lot of investment,” the bank CEO says during the HSBC Future Forum event in Dubai.

“Of course, we do wish and hope to see a resolution to the conflict… But Hormuz, probably in five years’ time, may become redundant,” he has added.

Qatar says negotiations between Iran and the US are continuing, with both sides engaging in diplomatic efforts despite growing tensions and fears of renewed fighting, Al Jazeera reports.

“On the negotiations of the JCPOA, they are ongoing, we are seeing engagement from both parties,” Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari says at the Global Security Forum in Doha.

“The fact that we’re not hearing about it is a good sign that we’re doing our job properly,” he says, stressing the importance of confidential negotiations.

He adds that Doha stands firmly behind Riyadh amid the widening conflict.

“Qatar is supporting our brothers in Saudi Arabia in defending their sovereignty against this attack,” he has said.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that it intercepted and destroyed a US MQ-9 drone over the Strait of Hormuz, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

The Revolutionary Guard said the drone was downed early Tuesday while flying over the strategic waterway, the news agency reported.

It claimed that the aircraft was the 54th US MQ-9 drone it had destroyed, according to the agency.

The US and Israel launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28. Tehran responded with missile and drone attacks across the region and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, while Washington later imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an unannounced visit to Israel on Monday, a person familiar with the matter said, as tensions flare between the US and Iran, Reuters reports citing Axios.

The person did not say what the two men discussed during the meeting, first reported by Axios. The Pentagon declined to comment. The Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hegseth said in a social media post that he had visited US service members in the Central Command area of responsibility, which covers the Middle East, northeast Africa and parts of Asia.

Israel’s Army Radio reported his meeting with Netanyahu took place at an air force base in Israel’s southern desert.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen warned the Houthi group against using traditional boats to smuggle weapons, missiles and military equipment into the country, citing risks to civilians and regional security, Anadolu reports.

The coalition’s Joint Forces Command stressed in a statement that the practice threatened security in Yemen and beyond.

It urged boat owners not to cooperate with the Houthis in transporting weapons and military equipment to Yemen’s coast, warning that their lives and property could be put at risk.

The statement gave no details of specific smuggling operations or intercepted weapons shipments.

Oil prices advanced, with Brent hovering around a five-month high as traders priced in a geopolitical risk premium from Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure and reports of vessel attacks in the Gulf.

Brent crude futures climbed 55 cents, or 0.50 per cent, to $110.10 a barrel, after rising as high as $110.70 a barrel in the previous session to their highest since May 20.

The US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) contract for November delivery, set to expire on Tuesday, was up 0.24pc to $103.91. The more-active December contract rose 39 cents, or 0.40pc, to $98.93.

“Oil prices remain well-supported … This suggests the market is pricing in a significant risk premium, given the situation’s volatility,” ING analysts said in a note.

“However, if flows continue uninhibited despite the geopolitical environment, the risk premium would likely erode slowly. Clearly, there are no signs of this yet.”