War returns to Iran with Israel, US strikes

The Houthis claim to have struck Saudi-led forces near an iron factory in Yemen’s Lahij governorate with a ballistic missile, according to spokesperson Yahya Saree.

He adds that the strike was “precise, resulting in a large number of dead and wounded.”

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has promised to push for de-escalation in the Middle East following the Democrats’ victory in the US midterm elections, Al Jazeera reports.

Asked whether he thought the results would make President Donald Trump more unpredictable, the UK prime minister replies, “Trump has accepted the results, and I feel the world has an opportunity now to unite around the issue that is affecting us all, and that’s the cost of living.

“That has been the issue that I have put front and centre in my first three months in Downing Street, and we’ve made moves. But I can’t get people’s cost of living pressures down until the conflict in the Middle East is resolved.”

When asked if he is worried about a possible escalation in the Middle East following the results, he says “Well, I’ll be working for de-escalation to make it very clear. You know, we want to see a resolution, the Strait of Hormuz fully opened again.”

An Israeli strike has killed a motorcyclist in southern Lebanon, the first such death since September, AFP reports citing the country’s health ministry.

A drone carried out the strike in the Qabrikha area, killing one man and wounding another, the official National News Agency also says.

Oil prices are down more than $3 a barrel in volatile trading as investors await Washington’s next move in the US-Israeli war on Iran after President Donald Trump’s Republican Party lost control of Congress in midterm elections, Reuters reports.

Brent futures are down $3.20, or 3.09 per cent, to $100.40 a barrel as of 1417 GMT (7:17pm PKT). US West Texas Intermediate crude futures are down $3.01, or 3.13pc, to $93.08.

Yemen’s Houthis claim they targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with a ballistic missile, though there has been no confirmation from Saudi authorities, Reuters reports.

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree claims the strike was successful and caused “significant damage to the airport”.

In a post on X, he reiterates the group’s call to all airlines, staff and travellers to refrain from flying through Saudi airspace, “as it is not secure”.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it has destroyed a US MQ-1 drone over Qeshm Island, according to the Fars News Agency.

It claims that the drone, the 15th MQ-1 shot down since the start of the war, was destroyed by its “advanced, innovative air defence system”, which operates under Iran’s intergrated defence network.

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree has announced that the group carried out multiple drone and missile attacks on military facilities within Saudi Arabia.

In a post on X, Saree says three attacks were carried out, with the first being a “direct” drone strike targeting a radar facility in the Al-Qahma Peninsula north of Jizan.

“The second operation targeted the Aakefah camp in Najran with a ballistic missile and successfully achieved its objective,” Saree adds.

He also says a ballistic missile targeted a command and control building of the Saudi Border Guard in Jizan, “resulting in dead and wounded among the soldiers and officers of the Saudi enemy”.

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree says the group carried out an operation against Saudi-led forces in Yemen, using six ballistic missiles.

The strikes, east of Al-Jawf Governorate, resulted in “direct hits that resulted in dozens of dead and wounded and the destruction of several vehicles”.

“Pride comes before a fall,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei says in a post on X, referring to the US.

“You dragged your country into an unlawful and atrocious war against Iran. Your calculations failed, your assumptions collapsed, and your strategic misjudgments became painfully evident — all because you fundamentally misunderstood Iran,” he says.

“The American people have now sent you a clear message.”

He warns that if the US persists with the war, “the consequences of this grave miscalculation will extend far beyond what you have already witnessed”.

“Attacking Iran does not bring victory. It only results in defeat,” the spokesperson adds. “Iran is not a nation that can be understood through arrogance, intimidated through threats, or brought to its knees through aggression.”

Oil prices fell on Wednesday in volatile trading as investors awaited Washington’s next move in the US-Israeli war with Iran, after the Democrats captured control of Congress from President Donald Trump’s Republicans in the midterm elections, Reuters reports.

Brent futures were down $1.49, or 1.44 per cent, to $102.11 a barrel at 1155 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 89 cents, or 0.93pc, to $95.20. Both had risen $1 earlier.

Brent in the previous session settled at its lowest level in nearly four weeks as traders weighed talks to end the wars in Ukraine and Iran.

An adviser to the commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warns that Tehran will target “enemy leaders” if Iranian commanders and leaders are attacked in any renewed conflict, Anadolu reports.

“If they target our commanders and leaders this time, they should expect their own commanders and leaders to be killed,” Mohammad Moghadamfar says, according to Iran’s Fars News Agency.

He further warns that Iran will adopt new methods in confronting any renewed war, warning that its response will no longer be reciprocal or proportional.

“Our responses will no longer be reciprocal or proportional. We will go beyond the point of attack and set their assets ablaze, regardless of time or place,” he stresses.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei warned that the Middle East war would become even wider if the United States resumed its attacks on the Islamic republic, AFP reports.

“Should such aggressions be repeated, its (the war) scope will become much wider,” said Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public since he took office in March, in a written message posted on his official website.

Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said that anyone expecting a shift in US policy was “seriously mistaken”, a day after US midterm elections dealt a blow to US President Donald Trump, AFP reports.

“Those who still harbour even the slightest hope that the behaviour of the hegemonic system might change through partisan or factional shifts, or who imagine that making concessions to the US can dissuade it from hostility towards the Iranian nation, are seriously mistaken,” he said in a written statement published on his website.

Iran’s Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Ali Abdollahi, says the country has emerged as the world’s fourth-largest power by exercising control over the Strait of Hormuz, IRNA reports.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reiterated that Pakistan is continuing its efforts for the restoration of peace in the Middle East amid escalating global fuel prices.

The premier made the remarks while addressing a meeting of the federal cabinet.

Read more here.

Lebanon’s prime minister warned against plunging the country into a new war if the Middle East conflict resumes, in an apparent message to Hezbollah, Reuters reports.

“Faced with the risks of renewed war in the region, I renew my warning of the dangers of dragging Lebanon into a new senseless adventure in service of outside interests,” Nawaf Salam said.

Iran-backed Hezbollah has twice pulled Lebanon into a war with Israel in as many years, most recently when it attacked Lebanon’s southern neighbour in support of Tehran in March.

“We do not accept the country again becoming a theatre for the conflict of others,” Salam added, saying Lebanon had “already paid a heavy price”.

Iran has called the US response to its seven conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz “unconvincing” as US President Donald Trump confirmed launching strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island near the strategic waterway, Al Jazeera reports.

Gulf bourses advanced in early trade as investors weighed the fallout from the US midterms and waited to see how Washington would respond in its war with Iran, Reuters reports.

Democrats seized the Senate and the House, dealing a setback to President Donald Trump. Their wins in South Carolina, Texas and Ohio broke through long-held Republican territory.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index gained 1.7 per cent, lifted by a 6.7pc jump in Saudi Arabian Mining Company and a 1.4pc rise in Al Rajhi Bank.

China says that avoiding a return to hostilities in the Middle East is a “top priority” in its diplomatic efforts with countries in the region.

Beijing has stepped up efforts in recent days to resolve the eight-month-long crisis after US President Donald Trump issued a fresh war threat against Iran over the weekend.

“The top priority is to avoid the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East that would bring disaster to the region’s people,” Beijing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning has told a news conference.

Beijing will “support Iran and the US in resolving disputes through negotiations, promote finding a political settlement to the Yemen issue, to help reach a proper and comprehensive solution for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz”, she has added.

Another Indian national who was critically injured in the October 10 attack on Riyadh airport has died in an intensive care unit (ICU), according to a statement.

The statement said the Indian authorities had remained in contact with the victim’s family and conveyed their condolences to his relatives and friends.

It added that all possible assistance would be extended to bring his remains back to India or arrange his funeral in Riyadh, depending on the family’s wishes.

Iran’s Deputy FM Kazem Gharibabadi says Tehran remains committed to diplomatic talks to end the US-Israel war, but is “ready for any scenario”, reports Iranian media.

China “supports Iran and US to resolve difference through negotiation”, the Chinese foreign ministry says, Reuters reports.

It adds that China is willing to strengthen dialogue with Saudi Arabia, Iran and regional countries.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf has said Americans have voted “no to war” following Republican losses in both chambers of Congress.

“Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” Ghalibaf said in a post on X.

He warned that if the US government betrayed the public’s will to serve “international paymasters and blackmailers”, it would “learn our NO comes with a Nightmare”.

US President Donald Trump told Fox News that the Iran war played a role in the stunning midterm election defeat for his Republican Party.

“I think a part of it was Iran, but at the same time, people understood the importance of what I’ve done with Iran,” Trump said in a telephone interview with Fox.