War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

A powerful blast has been heard in Riyadh, AFP journalists report, after authorities sent an alert warning of an aerial threat in the Saudi capital, which has been repeatedly targeted by Yemen’s Houthis.

“The city of Riyadh is facing a hostile aerial threat,” a phone alert sent to residents says, after the Houthis threatened to strike the kingdom.

The Saudi-led coalition says it has intercepted two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis at Dammam and Haradh.

It adds in a post on X that debris from an interception has fallen in a residential area in Dhahran, and is being addressed.

Loud booms have been heard in the vicinity of Saudi Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran, six sources tell Reuters.

There has been no official comment or confirmation from Aramco.

Saudi Arabia’s Directorate of Civil Defence says the National Early Warning Platform in Riyadh has issued an alert of potential danger.

The Saudi-led coalition says military operations were conducted against “vital assets” used by the Houthis to wage war in Yemen, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement posted on X, coalition spokesperson Major General Turki Al-Maliki says the targets included the Al-Sabaha central station in the capital Sanaa, underground fuel reserves and fuel tanks, and energy terminals in Hodeidah, Sanaa and Dhamar.

The statement adds that the Houthis use these sites “to support its war effort by supplying its arsenal of missiles and drones, which threaten the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and endanger the safety of airports, ports, and commercial vessels in the Red Sea”.

“The operation aims to neutralise the Houthis’ capabilities that threaten the Kingdom, Yemen, the southern Red Sea, and waterways,” the statement adds.

Saudi Arabia’s civil defence body issued an alert on warning of potential danger in the Eastern Province amid the escalation with Yemen’s Houthis, said the danger cleared minutes later, Reuters reports.

Iran has summoned the British ambassador over “accusations” linking Tehran to a suspected plot against Fairford airbase in Britain, Reuters reports citing Iran’s foreign ministry.

The move comes after British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Monday that a suspected plot targeting the base, which had been used by US bombers to carry out strikes on Iran, was “highly likely” to have been coordinated in Iran. Tehran denied any link to the incident.

The ministry said its director-general for Western Europe told the ambassador: “The British government must, as soon as possible, provide the documents and evidence supporting its accusations against Iran regarding the alleged incident. Otherwise, the Islamic Republic of Iran will seriously reconsider its bilateral relations.”

Saudi Arabia plans to make its flagship investment conference a hybrid event, giving executives the option to tune in remotely, after deadly weekend attacks on Riyadh airport prompted a rethink of travel to the kingdom, Reuters reports citing two people familiar with the matter.

Some participants were still expected to fly in and could land at airstrips outside Riyadh, or even in neighbouring Gulf states, and then drive to the capital to attend the Future Investment Initiative scheduled for later this month, said one of the people.

The Saudi government media office has not immediately responded to a request for comment.

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US crude oil stocks in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve remain at 283 million barrels last week, their lowest level since 1982, Reuters reports citing data from the Department of Energy.

US President Donald Trump has accused Yemen’s Houthi rebels of deliberately trying to drive up oil prices ahead of the midterm elections, warning that he will “never forget” their attacks on Saudi Arabia, amid a widening regional conflict fueled by the US war with Iran, Reuters reports.

“The Houthis are behaving very badly,” Trump writes in a Truth Social post, accusing the group of resuming attacks at Iran’s behest after a period of relative quiet following US strikes in Yemen last year.

“They’ve emerged again, probably at the behest of Iran … in a very nasty way, hitting Saudi Arabia and purposefully trying to drive up oil prices, probably prior to the US elections — not nice,” he adds.

Trump also makes clear that his warning will extend beyond the Nov 3 midterm elections, saying, “I’ll be there after the elections, and I will never forget!”

The US naval blockade has kept Iranian crude exports at zero in October, having plummeted in the second week of September, Reuters reports citing energy intelligence platform Vortexa.

According to a report from the firm, oil flows from the Gulf excluding Iran surged to over 81 per cent of pre-war levels in September, led by a recovery in Saudi exports.

Iran’s seaborne crude exports fell to zero in the second week of September from a 14-day average of 230,000 barrels per day at the start of that month, and have stayed there as of October 5, Vortexa adds.

Meanwhile, Iranian crude in tankers on the water has fallen to 83 million barrels, with 43 million barrels trapped west of the Strait of Hormuz due to the US blockade.

“The blockade is doing what years of sanctions never managed: it has physically stopped Iranian crude from leaving the Gulf,” Claire Jungman, Vortexa’s director of maritime risk and intelligence, says, adding that China also no longer needs Iranian barrels as urgently as it did before because Russian crude has filled the gap.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei says the country is ready to use all of its capabilities to repel enemy aggression, state news agency IRNA reports.

In an interview, he stresses that Iran’s experience in “three rounds of heroic defence” has strengthened Tehran’s readiness to confront threats.

The Houthis’ health ministry says two people have been killed when an oil company in Yemen’s Hodeidah province was attacked, blaming Saudi Arabia for the strike, Reuters reports.

There has been no immediate Saudi confirmation.

The Saudi cabinet, in a meeting led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, vows that it will not allow threats to the kingdom’s security or Red Sea shipping, AFP reports.

According to the official Saudi Press Agency, the cabinet says the kingdom “will not allow its security or freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait to be threatened”.

Asked about his next step with Iran, US President Donald Trump has said Washington will “make a decision … very soon”.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House, he reiterates his claim that Iran has a struggling economy, and that the US is in total control of the Strait of Hormuz.

US President Donald Trump has told reporters that Yemen’s Houthis have been “behaving very badly” when asked if Washington will strike the rebel group.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has condemned Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia in a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Al Jazeera reports citing the Saudi Press Agency.

Saudi Arabia’s cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, says Yemen’s Houthi rebels will face “consequences” for their repeated attacks on the kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reports.

The US embassy in Riyadh has issued a level three travel advisory urging American nationals to reconsider travel to Saudi Arabia.

According to the advisory, travel is being discouraged due to the “risk of drone and missile targeting of American interests by Iran and the Iranian-supported Houthis, armed conflict, terrorism, exit bans and local laws regarding social media activity”.

It further warns against travel near the Yemen border due to terrorism.

Iranian attacks on vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz have reached their highest pace since the US-Israeli war on the country began on Feb 28, with six ships targeted in a single day, Anadolu reports citing data from the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) and international maritime security sources.

Data shows that more than 18 commercial vessels were targeted by Iran during the first 12 days of October, including six a day prior.

Between Oct 5 and 12 alone, at least 14 attacks, attempted attacks and interceptions involving vessels were recorded in and around the strait, according to the same sources.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree claims that an oil facility in Sanaa targeted by Saudi airstrikes “is empty of petroleum derivatives and has no military value for targeting”, he writes on X, citing a source within the oil company.

In a separate statement, he further claims that Houthi forces are “confronting the Saudi enemy’s combat formations”.

The UK’s domestic spy chief warns that Iran is ramping up attempts to hit harder targets, such as military sites, in the United Kingdom, after Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Iran played a role in a recent incident at the RAF Fairford airbase, Al Jazeera reports.

In his annual speech on ranging threats to the UK, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum says that while he cannot speak about the Fairford incident because of an ongoing investigation, he says a major shift this year in “Iranian ambitions to come at harder targets, like military sites” has been observed.

“The RAF Fairford incident … is not unique. There have been other examples, not just in the UK but around the world,” he says.

Al-Jazeera correspondents on the ground in Sanaa have reported hearing explosions in Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital.

Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah TV has reported an attack on the Yemen Oil Company in Sanaa, according to Reuters.