War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Oil prices edged higher after an attack on the headquarters of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, while Iranian officials told Reuters they were deploying new tactics to target ships, seeking to keep oil prices high and influence the US midterm elections, Reuters reports.

Brent crude futures were up 14 cents to $105.83 a barrel at 0938 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 57 cents to $94.71. Both contracts had climbed more than $1 in early trade, with WTI hitting a more than two-week high at $95.41 a barrel.

A decade after Republican Donald Trump peeled away working-class and union voters who had long been a cornerstone of Democratic support in Ohio, Democrats and labor leaders see an opening to win back some of them in the November 3 US elections, Reuters reports.

Now midway through his second term, the president’s magic appears to be losing at least some of its luster with blue-collar men and women as rising prices, the Iran war and concerns about his rhetoric prompt some voters to reconsider their support.

A container ship sank in waters south of the Strait of Hormuz after hitting a naval mine and catching fire, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy said in a statement shared by state media, Reuters reports.

The ship carrying more than 2,500 containers had attempted to transit what the Guards described as an unauthorised and dangerous route, the statement said, warning local vessels and fishermen to take care

Hospitals across Yemen are struggling to cope with a sharp rise in war casualties as intensified fighting along multiple front lines strains its already fragile health system, the Red Cross said, Reuters reports.

Front-line hospitals in areas including Marib, Taiz and Yemen’s Red Sea coast were seeing unprecedented numbers of weapon-wounded patients, with some facilities admitting more than 700 casualties in a single week, according to the humanitarian agency.

More than 200,000 people have been displaced from their homes since fighting in the country began in recent weeks, sparked by renewed fighting between the Iran-backed Houthi group and Saudi-backed government forces in Yemen, according to the United Nations’ International Organisation for Migration.

Powerful explosions rattled the Saudi capital, hours after a Houthi strike hit a building in the area housing energy giant Aramco’s operations centre, in a fresh escalation of the war between the kingdom and the Yemeni group, AFP reports.

Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia unleashed salvos against the Houthi stronghold in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, while the Houthis fired back at sites across the kingdom, which is the world’s top crude oil exporter.

Constrained diesel supplies could persist well into next year as large counter-seasonal stock drawdowns have combined with restricted production ahead of peak winter demand, the International Energy Agency said in its monthly oil market report.

Diesel refining margins, the fuel’s premium to underlying crude oil , soared to record highs of almost $95 per barrel in September, as reduced refining capacity due to attacks linked to the Iran war slashed production.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said it had intercepted a missile fired by the group towards Riyadh, where explosions were earlier reported by AFP journalists.

“Interception and destruction of a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh,” coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki wrote.

Saudi authorities have issued an alert warning for a possible aerial threat in Riyadh, followed by a second message saying the threat had passed, amid a sharp escalation in hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, Reuters reports.

Three fishermen have been injured after a fishing boat was struck in an incident involving an unidentified drone near Sirik in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province, the provincial governor’s office says, Reuters cites Tasnim news agency.

Tasnim cites local sources as saying a fishing boat was hit in what they described as an attack by a US drone, although Iranian authorities have not officially confirmed the circumstances of the incident or who was responsible.

Loud explosions were heard in the Saudi capital Riyadh, AFP journalists in the city reported, as Yemen’s Houthis step up attacks in an escalating war.

Messages were received on phones in Riyadh warning people of an “aerial threat” and urging them to take shelter. The alert was lifted a few minutes later.

Oil prices climbed after two vessels were struck in the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian officials told Reuters they were deploying new tactics to target ships, as Tehran seeks to keep oil prices high and influence the US midterm elections.

Brent crude futures rose 34 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $106.03 a barrel by 0630 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 28 cents, or 0.3pc, to $94.42 a barrel.

Both contracts had climbed more than $1 in early trade.

US President Donald Trump signalled further action against Iran during a campaign rally in the state of Alaska, Anadolu reports.

“Wait till you see what we do to Iran. We’re going to do a number. We sort of had it. You know we’ve had it,” Trump told supporters in Wasilla, where he was campaigning for Republican candidates ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

“They’re just waiting. They’re waiting,” he said.

“We’ve had it, but you know it doesn’t matter. The big thing is they were not going to have a nuclear weapon,” he added.

A senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the United States never dares to carry out a land invasion of Iran, Press Tv reports.

Even the most senior officials in Washington know that such a scenario would lead to devastating consequences for the US military, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi said.

Naqdi, who serves as a high-profile advisor to the IRGC chief commander, made the comments on Tuesday in response to speculations that the US would deploy troops to Iran months after its joint aerial aggression with Israel against the country failed for good.

A senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy threatened to sink US warships on Tuesday if they approach the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA.

“We are waiting for American warships to approach the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz so that we can sink them,” Rear Adm. Ali Azmaei said in televised remarks, adding that Iranian forces are “counting down” for the encounter.

Azmaei claimed US warships “do not dare” approach the strategic waterway because of their vulnerability, saying a US aircraft carrier worth $13 billion had moved 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the strait.

“If the Americans want to see whether the Strait of Hormuz is open or closed, let them enter the field and see who controls it,” he said.

US Vice President JD Vance announced that the Trump administration will use the Defence Production Act to expand a Texas refinery to help boost production of commercial and military-grade fuels as high energy prices weigh on the US economy, Anadolu reports.

“I am pleased to announce that the Trump administration, working with the refinery at Delek, has used the Defense Production Act and we’re going to expand the refinery right here in Tyler, Texas,” Vance told a campaign rally in Texas.

The expansion is intended to boost the facility’s output of commercial-grade and military-specification fuel, adding to its existing production capacity.

The head of the International Monetary Fund has said that recent attacks on Saudi Arabia could impact people “everywhere”, as energy costs rise globally and multiple conflicts rage in the crude-rich region, AFP reports.

“The Saudi economy is important for the region and the world, and in that sense, these developments have potentially negative spillovers for everybody, everywhere,” Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said at a news conference during the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Bangkok.

The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed three cruise missiles and two drones in capital Riyadh and the country’s southern region, as Yemen’s Houthis press their attacks on the kingdom, AFP reports.

“Three cruise missile destroyed in the Riyadh and southern areas,” coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki wrote on X, later adding “two drones intercepted and destroyed” in the same areas.

Saudi Arabia has said that an attack on an Aramco building in the kingdom’s east sparked a “limited fire” and that debris from intercepted Houthi missiles wounded four people in the capital Riyadh, AFP reports.

A Saudi energy ministry official said an administrative building belonging to oil giant Aramco in Dhahran was struck on Tuesday evening, resulting in a “limited fire” but “no casualties or fatalities”.

Saudi Arabia’s civil defence agency said that four people — two women, a man and a child — were wounded by debris from two intercepted Houthi cruise missiles in the capital and that 15 homes were damaged.

Earlier on Tuesday, the coalition struck oil sites across western Yemen, in response to the deadliest attack on the kingdom’s soil in years.

The strikes in Yemen’s Sanaa and the western provinces of Dhamar and Saada targeted facilities used to “supply the war effort” by the Houthis to “threaten the kingdom, Yemen, the southern Red Sea and waterways”, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki wrote on X.

A powerful explosion then rang out in the Saudi capital, with a phone alert sent to residents saying “the city of Riyadh is facing a hostile aerial threat”.

While walking down a major avenue in Riyadh, a witness told AFP he “saw a projectile cutting across the sky” above a mall, saying it left “a yellowish trail of light followed by a trail of smoke. Then, we heard an explosion”.

“People were calm; no one was speaking. We were scared and all looking up at the sky,” he added, requesting anonymity.

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.”