War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

The Red Cross called for urgent de-escalation in the Middle East, warning that further fighting would be disastrous for tens of millions of civilians, Reuters reports.

Yemen’s civil war — in which a Saudi-led military coalition supports the government against the Houthis — reignited in July, months into the wider regional conflict that has roiled energy markets and plunged the Middle East into crisis.

“Civilians are paying an unacceptable price as a result of military operations in the Middle East,” said Mirjana Spoljaric, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Iran has temporarily suspended vehicle imports by hoteliers and Iranians living abroad as part of efforts to conserve foreign currency for essential goods and medicine, according to gov’t spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani, Al Jazeera reports.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has rejected an Israeli push to join the military campaign against Yemen’s Houthi group, despite efforts to secure Riyadh’s approval through US mediation, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports.

The daily, citing an unnamed diplomatic source, said the crown prince was not interested in Israeli military assistance, fearing that cooperation with Israel could provoke a negative reaction among the Saudi public.

Another source familiar with the matter said Israel hoped military cooperation with Saudi Arabia would strengthen bilateral ties and pave the way for a future normalisation agreement.

Addressing security challenges in the Middle East and East Africa, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani reaffirmed his country’s commitment to diplomatic efforts, saying, “We reaffirm our steadfast positions to find solutions to the crises in the region,” Al Jazeera reports.

The International Monetary Fund has warned that while low-income developing countries were dealing with the disproportionate impacts of the Iran war-fuelled energy shock, many had “no choice” but to cut spending or potentially face debt restructuring, AFP reports.

Speaking to AFP on the sidelines of the organisation’s Annual Meetings in Bangkok, IMF deputy director of research Petya Koeva Brooks said heavily indebted, oil-importing countries were facing the worst of the energy shock, and had difficult choices in helping their citizens through the crisis.

“Unfortunately, after years of the global economy being hit (by) shock after shock, debt levels have increased quite a lot, and at the same time, inflation has become a problem,” she said.

The US war on Iran has plunged the Middle East into conflict and sent global energy prices soaring, as Tehran’s retaliatory action targeted Washington’s Gulf allies and curtailed oil and gas supplies.

Those prices have begun to bleed into other goods, with the crisis also having an effect on crucial fertiliser supplies.

Football Australia tells AFP it was “closely monitoring” the situation in 2027 Asian Cup host Saudi Arabia following attacks by the Houthi group.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr had their Asian Champions League match delayed by an hour yesterday after the Saudi-led military coalition said it had intercepted a missile fired by the Houthis towards Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia, which is due to host Asia’s continental showpiece in January and February, has recently come under a series of attacks from the group, including strikes on oil facilities, tankers and transport hubs.

Oil prices fell and were on track for their first decline in nearly a week, as traders assessed supply risks from attacks on Saudi Arabia while weighing the prospect of additional diesel supplies from Russia, Reuters reports.

Brent crude futures fell $1.30, or 1.2 per cent, to $105.35 a barrel by 0329 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down $1.25, or 1.3pc, at $92.49 a barrel.

Both benchmarks climbed nearly $2 a barrel in the previous session, with Brent settling at its highest since September 15.

President Trump has suggested the US may have gone too far in targeting Iran’s leadership, saying Washington is struggling to identify officials with whom it can negotiate, Al Jazeera reports.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sharply cut growth forecasts for the Middle East and Central Asia in 2026, as the ongoing war has sent economies into a tailspin, Reuters reports.

In its latest World Economic Outlook report, the IMF said the regional economy was projected to contract by 0.3 per cent, compared to its projected 1.9 percent growth six months ago.

It cited “a longer closure of the Strait of Hormuz, compared with the baseline assumptions in the April” report, predicting a major rebound in 2027 based on the expected reopening of the waterway.

Since the Middle East war began in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Tehran has sought to impose its control over the Strait of Hormuz, repeatedly attacking ships that transit without its authorisation.

President Donald Trump said late on Monday he did not believe that China and Russia were helping Iran “at all,” adding that Moscow and Beijing had “too much to lose” if they enabled Tehran, Reuters reports.

Trump said on Truth Social that he had seen comments from his critics and opponents that China and Russia were helping Iran.

“If they are, it’s at a very low level, but I don’t believe they are at all. They have too much to lose, and we would know about it, and know about it very fast,” Trump wrote.

Etihad Airways said it had cancelled flights between Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam due to “regional disruption”, as Yemen’s Houthi group continues to carry out attacks on the Saudi kingdom, AFP reports.

All flights between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh have been cancelled until October 19, it said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they struck a vessel that was attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that is crucial to global energy flows, AFP reports.

The Guards’ navy said in a statement published on the force’s news platform, Sepah News, that “a supertanker, was hit in the Strait of Hormuz and caught fire”.

The ship targeted had tried to sail through the area “by disabling its transponders” and “by ignoring warnings from the Guards’ Navy”, the statement said.

Britain’s government accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of being behind a major scare at a UK airbase used by the United States, as allies including Washington warned Tehran against hostile acts, AFP reports.

Iran denied any involvement.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the British parliament that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “almost certainly directed” an incident at the Royal Air Force base of Fairford in southwest England last month.

The US, which had been using the base for its war in Iran, abruptly withdrew all its B-1 bombers from the site last week after the mysterious episode on September 27.

Burnham said Britain’s assessment of the incident was that it “is highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran, almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard”.

“We will not tolerate these threats on our soil. We will crack down on Iran’s use of criminal networks, using our full range of powers to target them and their funding streams,” he told MPs.

Fitch Ratings expects a “sustainable agreement” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in the first quarter of 2027, according to Al Jazeera, though it has not specified what form the agreement might take, which countries will participate, or what terms it may include.

Higher oil prices, recovering oil exports and large financial buffers have supported sovereign credit profiles, the rating agency says as part of its credit analysis.

“Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Iraq have borne the brunt of the fallout” from the US-Israel war on Iran, Fitch says, “facing sporadic attacks from Iran and regional proxies, alongside disruptions to the main route for their hydrocarbon exports”.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) has received a late-time report of a container ship being struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, with the incident under investigation.

The spokesperson of the coalition forces has reported the interception and destruction of a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis towards Riyadh.

The statement, posted on X, did not provide further details.

Several powerful explosions have rattled the Saudi capital Riyadh, just moments after a text message sent to residents’ mobile phones warning of an aerial threat, AFP reports.

“The area is under a hostile aerial threat. Please remain calm, stay indoors or in a safe place away from windows and doors,” the message reads.

Saudi Arabia’s Directorate of Civil Defence says a warning has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform in Riyadh over “a potential danger”.

Delta Airlines has announced it will delay the launch of direct flights from the US to Saudi Arabia as air safety regulators warn of continued safety risks, Al Jazeera reports.

The US airline had planned to launch direct service from its Atlanta hub to Riyadh on October 23, but postponed the route to March 2027 following deadly Houthi attacks on the Saudi capital’s King Khalid International Airport.

“Delta will delay the planned launch of its nonstop service between Atlanta and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, amid evolving developments in the region,” the US carrier says.

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a notice to air missions cautioning against a “potentially hazardous situation” in the airspace around Jeddah in the western part of the Gulf kingdom.

“Threats could pose a potential risk to aircraft at all altitudes, including during overflight, the arrival and departure phases of flight,” the notice says.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk has urged all sides to “avert further catastrophe” following the Riyadh airport attacks by the Houthis, saying continued fighting would only unleash more misery, according to Al Jazeera.

“I am appalled by the repeated attacks over the past few days by the Houthis on airports in Saudi Arabia, which have killed and injured dozens of Saudis and foreign nationals, notably yesterday’s horrific attack on Riyadh’s main airport,” he says in a statement, noting that attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international humanitarian law.

“The disastrous toll of this conflict on civilians, both in Yemen and in Saudi Arabia, is a reminder to all parties that continued fighting will only unleash further misery with no end in sight,” Turk adds. “I urge them to de-escalate and avert further catastrophe.”

The US embassy in Riyadh says American citizens have been detained for filming “recent events” in Saudi Arabia, which has suffered a string of deadly attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, AFP reports.

The US mission says “American citizens have been detained for taking photos of recent events”, without specifying how many were arrested or whether they have been released.

It notes that Saudi authorities warn that “filming, publishing, or sharing information related to counter missiles and drones and their impact sites exposes you to legal liability”.

Several foreign residents in Riyadh have told AFP that acquaintances were detained for filming recent events and sharing the footage on social media.

The US embassy in Saudi Arabia says US government employees must obtain authorisation before using any airport in the kingdom following a series of deadly attacks, AFP reports.

“US government employees working in Saudi Arabia require special authorisation to use any airport in Saudi Arabia,” the mission says in a statement, urging US citizens to “take extreme caution” if they choose to use Saudi airports.

Iran’s Ambassador to the UK Seyed Ali Mousavi has denied any Iranian role in a suspected plot targeting RAF Fairford air base in Britain, saying Tehran is willing to cooperate with British authorities in investigating the issue, Reuters reports citing Iran’s state news agency IRNA.

A senior Houthi official has warned the United States that it will receive a “swift and painful response” if it enters the war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has reportedly requested its help in dealing with the group.

“If the US becomes involved in the aggression against Yemen, we will not deliberate over the decision to respond; rather, there will be a swift and painful response targeting the US and all its interests in the region,” Houthi political bureau member Mohammed Al Bukhaiti tells AFP in an interview.

He also warned “all employees and workers at Saudi oil facilities and airports to stay away from these sites, as they have become legitimate targets”.

The United States and its allies, including Britain, Australia, Canada, France and Germany, have warned Iran against hostile acts after a major scare at a UK airbase was deemed almost certainly directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, AFP reports.

“Any attempt by Iran to threaten, silence, intimidate, harass, harm, or coerce people on our territories through proxies or any other means is unacceptable,” says a joint statement by 29 parties, published by the US State Department.