Yemen’s Houthis take responsibility for missile attack on Israel
Yahya Sarea, Houthi military spokesperson. Photo: REUTERS
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for their first missile attack on Israel since the US-Israel war on Iran began.
Brigadier-General Yahya Saree, military spokesman for the Houthis, issued the claim in a statement aired on Saturday by the Al-Masirah satellite television, according to Al Jazeera.
Earlier, the force had said that their "fingers were on the trigger" for direct military intervention if attacks on Iran and its proxies continued.
The Israeli military said it intercepted the missile near Beer Sheba, as sirens went off in the area and the area near Israel’s main nuclear research centre for the third time overnight Friday into Saturday. No injuries have been reported, according to Al Jazeera.
US air base in Saudi Arabia attacked
Around 10 US service members were injured in an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, according to a US official speaking to CNN.
At least 10 US service members were injured in an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, a US official told CNN. https://t.co/bbo6rFPMXZ pic.twitter.com/OxLNLYhDVI
At least two of the injured had shrapnel wounds considered non-life-threatening, and others were “impacted,” though the nature of what happened to them was not immediately clear, another US official said.
A refuelling aircraft was also damaged, the first source said.
According to Al Jazeera, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group of Iran‑backed armed factions, attacked "several" air bases and an airport in Jordan, according to the Iraqi news outlet Sabereen.
The attack comes as Israel said it was attacking Tehran and "defending" against missiles fired from Iran on Saturday, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US expected to conclude military operations within weeks, not months.
Iranian retaliation on an air base in Saudi Arabia wounded 12 US military personnel, two seriously, a US official told Reuters on Friday, as drones and missiles continued to strike US bases around the Gulf.
A month after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, the war has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands of civilians, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, and causing the biggest disruption ever to energy supplies, hitting the global economy and fuelling inflation fears.
A worker was injured in a drone attack on Oman's Salalah port while a crane suffered limited damage, Oman's government said on Saturday, according to Reuters.
In an Israeli strike on Isfahan in central Iran on Friday, 26 people were killed, including seven children and seven women, according to Press TV.
According to Al Arabiya, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov\ and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi have discussed the possibility of a diplomatic settlement in the Iran war, according to Lavrov’s ministry.
Drop Site News reports that Beirut's southern suburbs have been struck again on Saturday. Israel is pushing its ground invasion from three different fronts; however, Al Jazeera reports it is facing "fierce resistance" from Hezbollah fighters.
Turkish Foreign Minister speaks at STRATCOM summit
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan condemns Israeli aggression against Iran, saying that unlawful strikes against Iran have "pushed the region to the brink of wider war, triggered by relentless Israeli escalation," according to TRT World.
"We reject any scenario that drags regional states into devastating conflict," he said.
Turkish FM Fidan:
- Unlawful strikes against Iran pushed the region to the brink of wider war, triggered by relentless Israeli escalation
- We reject any scenario that drags regional states into devastating conflict
- Iranian actions affecting Gulf nations carry precisely… pic.twitter.com/OBCSBAdINoHe said that while this is Israel's war of choice, the entire world is suffering the consequences, and Iran's retaliation against US bases in Gulf countries only serves to pull the region into a deeper conflict.
"We all need to embrace the security responsibility of our region because we all suffer together when there's conflict and instability," he said.
"Our region shouldn't be vulnerable to external intervention anymore."
Turkish FM Fidan:
- We have to put out the fire, peace and security must be restored in our region through de-escalation and diplomacy
- One thing is certain: our region will never be the same again
- We all need to embrace the security responsibility of our region because we… pic.twitter.com/Rs6qJoKca7Thai tankers secure safe passage through Strait of Hormuz
“An agreement has been reached to allow Thai oil tankers to transit safely through the Strait of Hormuz," Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said at a press conference, according to AFP.
Trump questions why US would be 'there' for NATO
While Israel said it was hitting targets across Iran's capital, it said it had identified a missile launched from Yemen. Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis, who had previously disrupted shipping with missile attacks, have not been active in the Iran war.
The Houthis said on Friday they were ready to intervene militarily under certain conditions, including if new allies joined the US and Israel in the war or if the Red Sea was used to launch attacks on Iran.
Rubio told reporters after meeting Group of Seven counterparts in France that Washington was "on or ahead of schedule in that operation, and expect to conclude it at the appropriate time here - a matter of weeks, not months".
Read: Europeans to press Rubio over Russian support for Iran at G7 meeting
The war has driven a wedge between the US and its traditional allies, who have stayed on the sidelines. President Donald Trump said this lack of support had implications for NATO, the West's most important alliance.
"We would have always been there for them, but now, based on their actions, I guess we don't have to be, do we?" Trump told an investment forum in Miami on Friday. "Why would we be there for them if they're not there for us? They weren't there for us."
The charter underlying the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which the US has long led, says an attack on one member is an attack on all, requiring them to support one another.
Rubio said European and Asian countries that benefit from trade through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital choke point largely blocked by Iran, should contribute to efforts to secure free passage.
While he said the US could achieve its aims without ground troops, he acknowledged it was deploying some to the region "to give the president maximum optionality and maximum opportunity to adjust the contingencies, should they emerge".
More strikes while Trump speaks of negotiations
Washington has dispatched two contingents of thousands of Marines to the region, the first of which is due to arrive in the coming days aboard a large amphibious assault ship. The Pentagon is also expected to deploy thousands of elite airborne soldiers.
The deployments have raised concerns that the war will turn into a prolonged ground battle.
Stock markets tumbled sharply on Friday while the Brent crude oil benchmark LCOc1 topped $112, having risen more than 50% since the war began.
Read more: Late sell-off drags PSX lower by 1,200 points
In the US, where Trump is politically vulnerable to rising fuel prices, diesel in California hit a record average high of $7.17 a gallon, the American Automobile Association said.
Trump has appeared eager to wind down the unpopular war, emphasising this week what he called productive negotiations aimed at a diplomatic solution - despite repeated assertions from Tehran that no such talks have begun. On Thursday, Trump extended a deadline by 10 days for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks against its civilian energy grid.
At least five people were killed and seven injured after a US-Israeli attack on a residential unit in Iran's northwestern city of Zanjan, Iranian media reported early on Saturday. The Iran University of Science and Technology in Tehran was also struck.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X that Israel, in coordination with the US, had also hit two steel factories and a power plant. "Attack contradicts POTUS extended deadline for diplomacy. Iran will exact HEAVY price for Israeli crimes," Araqchi said on Friday, using an acronym for the president of the United States.
Israel's military said on Saturday it had detected incoming missiles from Iran, and Syrian state television reported explosions heard above the capital Damascus from Israeli intercepts of the Iranian missiles.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain also reported missile attacks early on Saturday.
Iran vows to exact heavy price
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned that Tehran would exact a “heavy price” for what he described as Israeli attacks on key industrial and nuclear infrastructure, as hostilities between the two sides intensified.
In a social media post, Araghchi said Israel had struck two of Iran’s largest steel factories, a power plant and civilian nuclear facilities, adding that Israel claimed the operation was carried out in coordination with the United States.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards echoed the warning, urging workers at industrial sites with American ties or links to Israel to “leave their workplaces immediately,” signalling the possibility of further retaliatory strikes.
US-Israeli strikes earlier in the day hit two Iranian nuclear facilities — the Khondab heavy water complex and a uranium processing plant in Ardakan — along with two major steel plants. Israeli forces confirmed the attacks, while Iranian authorities said there had been no radioactive release.
Israel’s military said Iran responded by firing missiles, with one person killed in Tel Aviv and at least four others wounded. Air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem, while explosions were reported near Jericho in the occupied West Bank.