Table of Contents
First Quiet Night for Iran Since Truce Collapse
The United States held back from launching air strikes on Iran for the first night in two weeks, even as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militants struck Saudi oil installations on the Red Sea coast.
There was no immediate explanation for the abrupt halt to a streak of 13 nights of escalating strikes since an interim deal to end hostilities collapsed. “It seems that our dear Iran had a peaceful night last night,” Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour said on X.
Houthi Attacks on Saudi Oil Infrastructure
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had successfully struck sites belonging to Saudi state oil giant Aramco in Jizan and Yanbu. Video verified by Reuters showed a large column of smoke rising from the direction of the Aramco refinery in Jizan.
In Yanbu—Saudi Arabia’s main Red Sea oil port where millions of barrels per day are loaded—two ballistic missiles aimed at oil installations were intercepted by a U.S.-made Patriot battery operated by the Greek military under an agreement with Riyadh. Jizan, on the Red Sea close to the Yemeni border, hosts a refinery with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day.
Yemen Civil War Reignites
The Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government struck Houthi missile and drone launch sites and arms depots in the Marib and al-Jawf provinces. Both sides in Yemen’s civil war are mobilising forces along the front.
The Yemeni civil war, paused under a ceasefire since 2022, broke down this month as Houthis effectively joined the wider war their Iranian allies have waged since being attacked by the U.S. and Israel. The Houthis have declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, with leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi warning all Saudi oil facilities could be targets.
Oil Prices and Trump’s Response
The escalation has contributed to one of the war’s sharpest rises in global oil prices, with Brent crude spiking above $100 a barrel for the first time since May.
President Trump on Friday vowed “major military punishment” for Tehran and the Houthis after Houthi strikes on two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea. However, Trump later told reporters: “We are talking to them. I think they’re being serious. I think … they are being by far the most serious that we’ve seen them, but that doesn’t mean we get there.”
Trump has threatened to widen targets to include Iran’s energy plants and bridges, send ground forces to seize Kharg Island, and bomb the underground nuclear-linked site known as Pickaxe Mountain.
