War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Iran’s judiciary has said that its chief held a rare meeting with the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public since being appointed, AFP reports.

Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and the supreme leader discussed issues including “securing public rights, and effectively combating corruption and its bottlenecks”, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported.

They held talks on “pursuing the recovery of rights and compensation for material and moral damages arising from the crimes of American-Zionist criminals”, it said.

The younger Khamenei has only communicated through written messages since his appointment, some of them published in handwriting attributed to him. No video message from him has been released, and the time and location of his meeting with Ejei were not disclosed, as has been the case with previously reported meetings.

Earlier this week, Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf also reportedly met with the supreme leader to discuss “the latest developments” in the war.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have denied targeting the holy cities of Makkah and Madina after Saudi authorities reported responding to falling shrapnel from interceptions in those areas, AFP reports.

“What the Saudi enemy is promoting about our forces targeting towards the holy areas of Makkah and Madina is a great and huge lie,” said Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree.

Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam has said that Tehran recently conveyed through Islamabad that it was prepared to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if Washington lifted its naval blockade, The Associated Press reports.

In his remarks at a seminar in Islamabad, the Iranian envoy also accused US President Donald Trump of rejecting the proposal by insisting the blockade of Iranian ports would continue.

Moghadam elaborated that Iranian officials had conveyed their willingness to reopen the Hormuz strait during CDF Field Marshal Asim Munir’s visit to Tehran, provided Washington ended its blockade.

Saudi Arabia’s Directorate of Civil Defense (DCD) says it intercepted two ballistic missiles launched by Yemen’s Houthis toward the Makkah and Madina regions, with debris falling in several locations including Jeddah, Taif and Rabigh, Reuters reports.

Yahya Saree, the spokesperson for Yemen’s Houthi rebels, claims that the group has carried out seven “specialised military operations” against Saudi Arabia over the past 24 hours, targeting facilities including Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport and an Aramco facility in Yanbu.

In a statement posted on X, he says King Khalid Airport and Yanbu were targeted in “accurate” strikes, with the former targeted in two phases.

He adds that the Rabigh oil refinery was also targeted, along with a crude oil pumping station and the East-West oil pipeline. In both cases, the group “successfully achieved its objective”.

Najran Airport and King Fahd Airport in Dammam were also successfully targeted, Saree claims, adding that the group has also successfully hit an airbase in Khamis Mushait.

“Our operations will continue deep inside Saudi territory, enforcing the equation of blockade for blockade and escalation for escalation, and targeting the Saudi enemy’s troop concentrations until the aggression ceases and the blockade against our beloved country is lifted,” Saree adds.

Saudi Arabia has not immediately commented on Saree’s claims.

Iran has ramped up efforts to target US personnel, and lethal plots by Tehran against American citizens have reached “advanced stages”, a senior intelligence official in the Trump administration warns in a memo seen by Reuters.

The alert from Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton comes after Washington scaled back staffing at its mission in Saudi Arabia earlier this week in response to intensified attacks by Iran-allied Houthi forces.

“Specifically, through various channels, we have received intelligence that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target US personnel,” Clayton wrote to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a message dated October 23.

“The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against US citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries,” he added.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says many Iranians are struggling to put food on the table, as the economic pressure from the Middle East war with the United States mounts, AFP reports.

“There are many people in this society who are struggling to put food on the table because of the war we have found ourselves in, because of the wartime conditions we are living under,” Pezeshkian says in a speech shared on his website.

Yemen’s Houthis have claimed an attack on a naval base and a military camp in Aden, the interim seat of the internationally recognised government, after blasts were heard there, AFP reports.

“Our armed forces targeted Saudi enemy concentrations at the so-called Al-Nasr camp and the naval base in Aden,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree says, adding that the sites were overseen by Saudi forces.

Explosions have been heard in Yemen’s Aden, the interim seat of the country’s internationally recognised government, a police source and an AFP journalist say.

A police official in Aden tells AFP he heard three explosions in the city, while an AFP correspondent also reports hearing blasts.

Another police source tells AFP the Houthis targeted a Saudi-led coalition position near Aden airport that was targeted last week, as well as the coast guard.

The United States has updated travel advisories for countries across the Gulf and Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon and Israel, citing what it describes as the threat of increased Iranian-supported Houthi regional aggression, according to security alerts issued by US missions, Reuters reports.

Houthi media claims that Saudi strikes have killed 11 people in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, shortly after the Saudi-led coalition fighting them said it had intercepted two missiles targeting Saudi cities, AFP reports.

The Houthis’ Al-Masirah outlet reports a series of “Saudi enemy airstrikes” targeting Sanaa, including one on a house that reportedly killed at least four people and wounded several others.

A separate strike at a residential building for cement factory workers in the Sanaa governorate killed six women and one child and wounded three others, the broadcaster further claims.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in remarks broadcast on state TV, blames the United States for the failure of an interim deal with Iran, but says there should be a new attempt at concluding it, Reuters reports.

“We were having negotiations; the cowards (Americans) messed everything up … I still think we should go and conclude it,” Pezeshkian says.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has said Tehran must exit the state of “neither war nor peace”, Isna reports.

He said at a ceremony: “But these cowards broke the rule. But I still believe that we must go and get out of the ‘no war, no peace’ situation, because Iran and our land are very rich and exceptional in minerals, geography, and human resources, and each of these is gold.“

Pezeshkian added that it was “necessary to correct our mentality and get on the right path”, and called for unity and cohesion.

“Let us compete with each other on this path and take useful, efficient, and effective measures.“

Ras Al Khaimah authorities have announced that all beaches in the emirate will be closed until further notice, a day after an offshore oil leak prompted beach closures in neighbouring Umm Al Quwain and Sharjah, Reuters reports.

The Public Services Department has announced the closures in a statement shared by Ras Al Khaimah Police General Headquarters, with no reason given.

A Saudi airstrike on Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa killed three people and wounded several others, Houthi media said, adding that the toll remained preliminary, AFP reports.

The Iran-backed group’s Al-Masirah station said “the Saudi enemy targeted a house in Asr,” in the west of the capital.

It came after Saudi forces said they had intercepted two missiles fired at western Saudi Arabia.

Saudi forces launched deadly airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Sanaa governorate, media belonging to the group said, while also reporting around 20 strikes on Mocha, AFP reports.

The Houthis’s Al-Masirah reported a series of “Saudi enemy airstrikes” targeting Sanaa, as well as “a number of martyrs and wounded” at a cement factory in the same governorate.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen announces that it has intercepted two missiles fired by the Houthis towards its western provinces of Taiz and Yanbu, AFP reports.

Earlier, the Saudi civil defence agency issued alerts for four western areas of the country, including Yanbu and Taif. The former is a major oil export hub on the Red Sea coast that has allowed Riyadh to bypass Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Arabia’s civil defence agency has broadcast warnings of “potential danger” for four of its western provinces, including that of Makkah, home to Islam’s holiest city, AFP reports.

The alerts, which also covered the major Red Sea city of Jeddah, nearby Taif and the coastal oil hub of Yanbu, were all rescinded minutes later.

Residents were instructed to “proceed to the nearest safe place” by the agency. The agency also repeated a legal warning against sharing images or information related to “countering missiles and drones”.

Severe shortages of fuel, medicines and medical supplies threaten hospitals in Yemen’s Taiz amid a renewed Houthi siege, forcing doctors to shorten dialysis sessions and threatening the lives of more than 1,100 kidney failure patients, Al Jazeera reports.

President Donald Trump said the US may carry out another military operation against Iran at just as the Iran war nears its eight-month mark and rising fuel prices weigh on the US midterm elections, Reuters reports.

Major General Ali Abdollahi, the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, has said that the US Navy is no longer capable of approaching the waters surrounding the Persian Gulf or Iran’s territorial waters, Press TV reports.

The US president should only dream of seeing his military and armed forces enter the Persian Gulf again, he said, adding, “They will take this wish to their graves.”

“Under no circumstances and at no time will we allow US military vessels to enter the Persian Gulf.”

Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, says that the country’s policies and public conduct must reflect wartime realities, adding that Iran’s enemies seek to destroy the country, Press TV reports.

“You cannot act as if it is not wartime when you are at war.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will pay a visit to Moscow this week to continue talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on bilateral relations and key regional and international issues, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has announced, IRNA reports.

In a post on his Instagram account on Friday, Araghchi said he had hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during the past week. The two diplomats held detailed discussions on the latest developments in bilateral relations and major regional and international issues.