War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

An eyewitness at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport claims to have seen an explosion and then multiple people lying injured on the ground inside the airport, according to Reuters.

The Canadian, German and Spanish embassies in Saudi Arabia warned their citizens to avoid Riyadh’s international airport after reports it was attacked, AFP reports.

Spain’s embassy, in a message on X, alerted nationals to a “new attack” on the airport, where witnesses earlier told AFP an evacuation was ordered.

A diplomatic source separately told AFP that Yemen’s Houthis had hit the airport with a missile.

Kuwait Airways has cancelled flights to and from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, due to what it describes as the closure of Riyadh airport because of the “security situation”, AFP reports.

At least five people are being treated in an intensive care unit in Riyadh after being injured following a reported explosion at Saudi capital’s King Khalid International Airport, a source at a hospital tells AFP.

“Dozens of people were injured, most of them Saudi nationals. At least five of the injured — all Saudi nationals — are in intensive care,” the source adds, saying some patients were transported by helicopter.

A diplomatic source tells AFP that Yemen’s Houthis struck Riyadh airport with a missile at around 3pm local time.

“Houthis are attacking civilian targets. Riyadh airport is a civilian target,” says the source, who has been briefed on the matter.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “like a degenerate gambler [is] desperately seeking to save himself with more US blood and treasure”.

In a post on X, Araghchi calls the Israeli PM a “wanted war criminal with Arab, American and Iranian blood on his hands”, adding that, to escape justice, he will hold no regard for the safety of his own people either.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim that Saudi Arabia launched four airstrikes on Sanaa International Airport, along with three other strikes targeting a telecommunications network in Al Mahabishah in the country’s Hajjah province, Anadolu reports citing the Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah TV channel.

There has been no immediate comment from Saudi officials or Yemen’s internationally recognised government regarding the report.

People at Riyadh’s international airport are being evacuated from the facility, three witnesses tell AFP.

One witness reports hearing an explosion while waiting to board a flight, while the other two witnesses are unable to confirm what incident triggered the evacuation.

A loud blast has been heard at the airport in Riyadh, Reuters reports, citing an eyewitness and people briefed on the matter.

The Saudi government media office and the Saudi civil aviation authority did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

AFP, citing three witnesses, said people were being evacuated from the Riyadh airport.

One witness reported hearing an explosion while waiting to board a flight, while the other two witnesses were not able to confirm what incident triggered the evacuation.

Saudi FM Prince Faisal bin Farhan received a phone call from his Omani counterpart Badr bin Hamad Al-Busaidi, the Saudi foreign ministry said.

Al-Busaidi expressed Oman’s condemnation of the targeting of Abha and King Khalid International Airports and its solidarity with Saudi Arabia.

He affirmed his country’s categorical rejection of the targeting of civilian facilities and the endangering of the kingdom’s security and the safety of civilians therein.

King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh has issued an advisory instructing travellers to contact their respective airlines before heading there, AFP reports.

“Please contact your airline directly and confirm your flight status before heading to the airport,” a statement posted on the airport’s official X account says.

The airport issued a similar advisory on Thursday, when a fatal attack killed three people.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has welcomed US President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke executive orders restricting air travel between the US and Lebanon.

The move reflects “confidence in the measures taken by the Lebanese state to ensure civil aviation safety, protect air traffic to and from Beirut, and enhance the security of flights connecting Lebanon with countries around the world”, the Lebanese Presidency says in a statement posted on X.

Aoun also stresses Lebanon’s commitment to aviation safety in line with international standards to protect passengers and bolster confidence in its institutions, according to the statement.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has called on the country to stand firm in the face of bullying, additionally calling for greater use of advanced technologies, state broadcaster Press TV reports.

“We must not bow our heads in the face of bullying and unfair treatment,” Pezeshkian says, emphasising the need for Iran to pursue scientific and technological progress at a ceremony at Iran’s Seed and Plant Improvement Institute in Karaj.

Pointing to Iran’s technical expertise, particularly in assembly and artificial intelligence, Pezeshkian stresses these existing resources should be put to more effective use.

“Our experts are among the best assemblers in the world; we have some of the best in artificial intelligence. Why should we not use the best technology?” he asks.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government has warned that a Houthi strike on Aden International Airport marks a critical shift in the group’s tactics, moving from a potential risk against international flight paths to direct, targeted attacks on vital civilian infrastructure, Al Jazeera reports.

A letter sent to the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres by Yemen’s UN envoy, Abdullah Al-Saadi, stated that the Houthis launched two ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones at the airport at dawn on October 7. The strike occurred as a commercial airliner was preparing to land and while passengers and staff filled the airport terminal, it said.

The Yemeni government said that the attack constitutes a serious escalation, and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and international rules for the protection of civil aviation.

It also urged the Security Council to condemn the attack in the strongest terms, hold those responsible to account, and fully enforce arms embargoes to block the flow of weapons, military hardware and foreign technical expertise to the Houthis.

The government warned that continued military support for the Iran-backed group directly threatens global navigation and risks severe humanitarian and material disasters. It also called for stronger international cooperation with Yemeni institutions to protect airports, civilian facilities and air routes.

The organisers of two major Saudi energy and investment conferences said their events will go ahead this month and reassured visitors on security, after missile attacks on Riyadh’s airport left four people dead and an airliner heavily damaged this week, Reuters reports.

Riyadh is sticking to plans to convene global events and trying to draw in investment even amid escalating war with the Houthis in Yemen that has seen the kingdom attacked dozens of times over the past weeks.

Organisers of the World Petroleum Congress, set to host top global oil executives and policymakers from Sunday to Thursday, said it would proceed as planned with foreign leaders and ministers in attendance, an email sent to delegates said.

“Your comfort is our priority,” it said, noting that alternative routes to Riyadh, including via a four-hour drive from Dammam on the kingdom’s eastern coast, were available.

The organisers of two major Saudi energy and investment conferences say their events will go ahead this month and reassure visitors about security, after missile attacks on Riyadh’s airport left four people dead and an airliner heavily damaged this week, Reuters reports.

Riyadh is sticking to plans to convene global events and trying to draw in investment even amid escalating fighting with the Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen.

Organisers of the World Petroleum Congress, set to host top global oil executives and policymakers from Sunday to Thursday, say it will proceed as planned with foreign leaders and ministers in attendance, according to an email sent to delegates.

“Your comfort is our priority,” it reads, noting that alternative routes to Riyadh, including via a four-hour drive from Dammam on the kingdom’s eastern coast, were available.

The Future Investment Initiative, launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the kingdom’s flagship investment conference a decade ago, would also proceed as planned from October 26-29, organisers say.

“Safety and well-being remain our highest priority,” a statement attributed to FII CEO Maha Al Saud reads. “Comprehensive security measures will be in place at Riyadh’s airports, our conference venues and official hotels, with coordinated arrangements for participants’ transportation.”

Chief executives of some of the world’s biggest financial institutions, such as JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon and Citi’s Jane Fraser, are on the list of expected attendees. Citi and JPMorgan have not immediately responded to a request for comment.

Yemeni military sources tell AFP that their forces were advancing against the Houthis in areas around the Bab al-Mandab strait but have not yet secured control of the waterway, after the government launched an operation to recapture lost territory.

The government last week announced a counter-offensive aimed at retaking all areas held by the Houthis, after the group seized Yemen’s entire western coastline in a lightning offensive.

The Houthis confirmed that government forces had attacked in the Bab al-Mandab area but they claimed to have repelled the assault.

Sources from the military of Yemen’s internationally recognised government also said Mayun Island in the heart of the strait remained in Houthi hands as fighting continued.

Clashes in western Yemen, specifically around the strait, had killed at least 63 people in the past 24 hours, military sources from both sides tell AFP. Thirty-five members of government forces had been killed, while 28 Houthis had died, the sources said.

Brigadier General Ali Jahanshahi, commander of the Iranian army ground forces, says more than 50 combat and support units have been deployed along the country’s borders, according to Press TV.

“The deployments extend from the northwest to the southwest, across the eastern regions and along the Makran coast,” it reported.

The Kremlin said that President Vladimir Putin relayed to US President Donald Trump Iran’s position on a possible resolution to the US-Iran war, with the backing of the Iranian president, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported, Reuters reports.

“In coordination with the president of Iran, Putin conveyed to Trump the Iranian side’s view on a possible resolution of the conflict,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying.

Forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government say they have killed several Houthi fighters north of Dhubab Airport, Al Jazeera reports.

In a post on X, the Southern Giant Forces said they had repelled an attack by the Houthis, destroying a large amount of the group’s equipment. The Southern Giant Forces added that the Saudi-led coalition had also targeted Houthi reinforcements with air strikes.

Passenger and air traffic at King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital returned to normal Friday after two attacks by Yemen’s Houthis killed three Saudi citizens and injured others, Saudi state media reports.

State-run Alekhbariya TV said passenger movement at the airport is “flowing smoothly,” with operational services resumed and air traffic back to normal.

The broadcaster said the rapid restoration of flights reflected the readiness of the airport’s infrastructure and the flexibility of Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation system in dealing with exceptional circumstances and containing their effect, while prioritizing the safety of passengers and staff.

Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, says that “there is a glaring contradiction in Rubio’s recent speech: standing firm ‘to the last man’ is praised in the context of ancient Greece, yet the steadfastness of the great Iranian nation is disparaged with the label of a ‘death cult’.”

In a post on X, he criticised remarks made by Marco Rubio during a visit to Athens, where the US secretary of state drew parallels between ancient Greco-Persian conflicts and modern

“Mr Rubio, your problem is not with the Islamic Revolution; it is with a strong and independent Iranian civilisation.”

Velayati added that praising resistance when it applies to “one’s own” while disparaging it when it applies to “the other” is not civilisation, but dishonesty.

Velayati also stated that those who perpetrated the catastrophes of Hiroshima, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan have no right to lecture others on morality.

Israeli warplanes have launched a raid on the area between the towns of Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Kfar Tebnit in southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera reports, citing the Lebanese National News Agency.

There were no reports so far as to whether there had been any casualties or damage.

Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission, has denounced comments made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Iran’s history.

“A country whose history began with the massacre of indigenous peoples and has never ceased from colonialism and bloodshed accuses the Achaemenids – who wrote the world’s first declaration of human rights – of crimes!” Azizi said in a post on X.

“Your vile nature has a problem with Iran and Iranians.”

Regional diplomacy shouldn’t just be about holding meetings, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says, adding, “It must be a real tool: for crisis management, maintaining dialogue, preventing escalation, and driving practical cooperation.”