War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told Lebanon’s president that he should not return several hundred kilograms of explosives seized by Lebanese authorities from Hezbollah, a US official said, AFP reports.

“He urged President (Joseph) Aoun to hold accountable all those who ordered, financed, and directed the shipment, and underscored that returning explosives to Hezbollah should be out of the question,” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

The group acknowledged on Thursday that a 500-kilogram shipment of explosives belonging to it was seized last week by Lebanese authorities, saying it was intended for “the resistance.”

“The vehicle and its cargo belong to the resistance” against Israel, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah had said, adding that the group requested the release of those arrested over the seizure and demanded the return of the shipment.

Rubio also raised the issue of Lebanon’s 1955 boycott law, which bans direct relations with Israel and “deter steps towards peace.”

Rubio “emphasised that the law is impractical and urged direct military-to-military communication between Lebanese and Israeli forces for deconfliction,” according to the US official, adding it “would help to reduce miscalculation and to advance sequenced implementation” of the framework agreement.

Under international pressure, Lebanon has drawn up a plan to disarm Hezbollah, and negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, facilitated by the United States, led to the conclusion of a framework agreement at the end of June.

The UN Security Council has issued a joint statement condemning the “escalatory” attacks by Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia, including “reckless strikes” on Riyadh’s airport, AFP reports.

In a joint statement shared by the Security Council’s president, Greece’s Evangelos Sekeris, the 15-member UN body “condemned in the strongest terms continued and escalatory Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” as well as “continued Houthi attacks and threats against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb (Strait).”

The statement also “affirmed the inherent right of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of self-defence in accordance with international law.”

The Asian Cup in January is “on schedule”, Saudi Arabian organisers said, after growing fears for the tournament following Houthi attacks on the country, AFP reports.

The continent’s top football official said this week that the competition could be postponed to 2028, while stressing there was “no hurry” to make a decision.

The 2027 Asian Cup is supposed to kick off on January 7 in the Saudi cities of Jeddah, Riyadh and Al Khobar.

In a statement late Thursday, the local organising committee said: “Preparations remain on schedule for the tournament.

“This work continues in close coordination with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and other relevant stakeholders.”

Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia’s civilian and economic infrastructure, reaffirming its support for the kingdom’s security and right to self-defence amid escalating regional tensions.

Speaking at a United Nations Security Council debate on the Middle East, Pakistan’s acting Permanent Representative, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, said, “These attacks must cease immediately.”

He reiterated Islamabad’s support for efforts to secure a peaceful settlement in Yemen.

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A Yemeni government minister says on condition of anonymity that the Houthi missile attack on the presidential palace in Aden hit a command centre of the Saudi-led coalition fighting against the group, AFP reports.

The minister said the Houthis hit a command centre for Yemeni government “forces with three missiles and the headquarters of the Saudi-led coalition forces at the presidential complex with two missiles”, adding that there were Yemeni and Saudi casualties, without providing a specific toll.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has confirmed the release of about 330 million barrels of emergency reserves of oil to address supply disruptions, Al Jazeera reports.

The release is part of an agreement reached in March when member countries agreed to release 400m barrels to address the supply disruption caused by the Iran war.

The IEA Governing Board said it had agreed to accelerate the release of the remaining 100m barrels from the reserves, including more than 20m barrels of diesel.

The board noted that the total volume of stocks to be released exceeded the original total of 400m barrels, as some member countries released higher quantities than initially pledged.

Yemen’s foreign minister has called on European countries to take a more active role in stopping fighting between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces in Taiz, Al Jazeera reports.

According to the Yemeni foreign ministry, Afrah al-Zouba discussed the repercussions of the ongoing clashes in the city in a phone call with the European Union’s ambassador to Yemen, Patrick Simonnet.

He noted the worsening humanitarian conditions for Yemenis facing displacement in the south and west.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi says that while Iran “has always wanted” good relations with its neighbours, it has the right to take necessary measures to defend itself and counter threats and their sources, according to ISNA news agency.

“We are not warmongers, but every aggression will face our decisive response,” Gharibabadi said at the Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Trust-Building Measures in Asia (SICA).

He also warned that if the conflict continues and escalates, the crisis “will not be limited to Iran and the West Asian region”.

The Trump administration has issued fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting 16 individuals and 10 entities, Reuters reports, citing a notice posted on the US Department of Treasury website.

Yemen’s prime minister and cabinet members who were at the Maashiq presidential palace complex were unharmed, Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said, adding that the Houthis had fired five missiles at the complex, Reuters reports.

At least four people were killed and 10 more wounded in a Houthi missile attack on the presidential palace in Yemen’s Aden, which also serves as the internationally recognised government’s headquarters, three government military sources told AFP.

The forces of Yemen’s internationally recognised government said that the Houthis had fired ballistic missiles at the central city of Marib, which sits in a strategic oil-rich region, AFP reports.

“Houthi terrorist militias fired several ballistic missiles at the densely populated city of Marib,” the government forces said.

Yemen’s Houthis attacked a military headquarters at the presidential palace in Aden, which also serves as the seat of the internationally recognised government, media affiliated with the group reported, according to AFP.

The group targeted “the headquarters of military operations, led by Saudi officers, at the Al-Maashiq Palace in Aden, as well as weapons depots belonging to them”, it reported.

Yemen’s Houthis fired missiles at the presidential palace in Aden, which also serves as the headquarters of the internationally recognised government, security sources told AFP, while a journalist saw smoke rising from the site.

“Houthi missiles targeted the Al-Maashiq presidential palace in Aden,” the government’s interim capital, three local police sources said on condition of anonymity, after residents of the southern city reported hearing explosions.

Global finance firms including JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank are allowing Saudi Arabia-based staff to work from home after a series of Houthi strikes heightened security concerns in the kingdom, three people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.

US investment firm Franklin Templeton has temporarily closed its Riyadh office and asked all staff based there to work from home until further notice, one of the people said. No end date has been set for the new working arrangements.

The moves are in response to escalating Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia over the past week, including an attack on the headquarters of oil giant Saudi Aramco on Tuesday and an earlier strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis says that regional actors have helped the group acquire “advanced technologies”, without identifying those involved, AFP reports.

The Houthis “have worked to obtain advanced technologies with the help of regional actors”, coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki told a briefing in Riyadh, adding that the group now had “ballistic missiles, attack and suicide drones, and fast explosive-laden boats”.

Dr. Rayed Krimly, deputy minister for public diplomacy at the Saudi foreign ministry, says the country reached out to Yemen’s Houthis in recent weeks as fighting escalates between the two sides, but the group refused to meet in Oman, AFP reports.

“At the beginning of this escalation, we asked them to meet in Muscat, Oman and they refused. This was the last communication which happened a few weeks ago,” the foreign ministry official said during a virtual briefing with reporters.

A Saudi foreign ministry official has accused Iran of encouraging the Houthis in their ongoing fight with the kingdom, adding that Tehran continues to arm and train the group, according to AFP.

“Iran continues to arm, train and support the Houthi militia in violation of UN security council resolutions,” Dr Rayed Krimly, deputy minister for public diplomacy at the foreign ministry, alleged during a virtual briefing with reporters.

US wholesale inflation surged past analysts’ expectations in September, marking its biggest jump since 2022 as the war in Iran sent fuel prices rocketing, AFP reports, citing government data.

The latest numbers, coming a day after hotter-than-anticipated consumer inflation, underscore the challenges that President Donald Trump faces in cooling prices and winning over cost-weary voters in November’s midterm elections.

The spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Turki Al-Maliki, says that Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport has been subjected to 20 attacks since Oct 1, according to Al Jazeera.

He added that Houthi attacks on the airport have killed 17 people and injured 333 people between Oct 7-11.

The Oct 10 attack on the airport was carried out with 10 drones, missiles and other projectiles, Al-Maliki said at a news conference in Riyadh.

The Iranian navy’s media wing says that surveillance teams earlier identified an oil tanker that had caught fire in the prohibited zone of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s state-run Press TV reports.

More than 200,000 people have been displaced in Yemen in recent weeks as escalating fighting disrupts food and fuel supplies, Al Jazeera reports, citing the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

Alison Bottomley, an advocacy manager at the NRC, told Al Jazeera that Yemen had already been experiencing “one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world” before the latest escalation.

Now, shifting front lines in Taiz are cutting off civilians and preventing the entry of essential supplies, with some reports indicating a 50 per cent increase in food prices there, she said.

Ayatollah Ka’bi, a senior Iranian cleric, says that the lasting national security does not merely mean the absence of war, ISNA reports.

“Military readiness alone does not guarantee lasting security; a country must be able to withstand economic uncertainty, infrastructure vulnerabilities, and the possibility of renewed conflict,” he said.