War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he spoke with US President Donald Trump on Sunday about the importance of eliminating Iran’s regime, Reuters reports.

“We are committed to completing the elimination of the Iranian regime,” Netanyahu says in a statement released by his office. “I have discussed this with Trump many times, including yesterday.”

The Saudi-led coalition against the Yemeni Houthis says a drone has been intercepted and destroyed over Riyadh, according to a post on X by their spokesperson.

Al Jazeera reports that Yemeni government forces claim to have repelled a Houthi “infiltration attempt” north of Taiz and shot down a Houthi drone south of the city.

Diesel prices are higher than anyone wants right now and the US is working with refiners to seek ways to produce more, Reuters reports quoting US Energy Department Under Secretary Kyle Haustveit.

“We are working with our industry to find every nook and cranny to squeeze more crude put through our refining complex,” he says at the Drake Forum in Titusville, Pennsylvania.

The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) sees little chance of a return to normal oil market conditions next year, as the ongoing Middle East war keeps prices high, AFP reports.

“I personally don’t see any credible pathway that 2027 will be a year of normalisation” after the Gulf supply disruptions caused by the US and Israeli attacks on Iran last February, Fatih Birol tells a conference organised by The Financial Times.

“If there’s an overlapping crisis in the Middle East, I cannot exclude that our governments will look at the other options,” Birol tells The FT’s Energy Transition conference. “It’s a big thing, 400 million barrels, but it’s only 20 per cent of the oil we have — 80pc is in the pocket.”

Birol also laments that the war has shifted attention away from the risks of climate change, despite confirmation from scientists that the burning of fossil fuels is a clear cause of global warming.

“Climate change is sliding down in the international policy agenda despite the number, the frequency, and the intensity of extreme weather,” he says. “In a normal world … there’d be more interest, but it is going down.”

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.