The Iran-backed Houthi movement has claimed responsibility for a missile attack on Saudi Arabia, saying it was carried out in response to Saudi air strikes on targets in Yemen. The exchange has raised fresh concerns over regional security, even as military activity between the United States and Iran appeared to ease for the first time in two weeks.
Early on Saturday, the Houthis' Ansarollah media channel announced on Telegram that a "Yemeni missile strike" had sparked fires in the Saudi city of Jizan. Saudi authorities issued emergency alerts for residents in the province, although there was no immediate official response to the reported attack.
The missile strike came hours after Saudi Arabia launched air raids on Houthi-linked sites in the Yemeni port city of Hodeida and on the nearby Kamaran Island. The Houthis had earlier vowed to retaliate against the attacks.
Following the exchange of fire, Ansarollah media accused Saudi Arabia of escalating the conflict.
"The Saudi enemy's targeting of civilian facilities in Hodeida and Kamaran island constitutes a dangerous escalation,"
the group said before adding:
"We affirm that these recent crimes will not go unanswered."
While fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis intensified, there were no reports overnight of fresh military strikes involving either the United States or Iran, marking the first pause in such activity in nearly two weeks.
The US military has carried out 13 straight nights of attacks on Iran in recent days. During the same period, Iran has responded by launching drone strikes targeting US military facilities and bases across the Middle East.
Diplomatic efforts also continued on Saturday as a delegation from Oman arrived in Tehran for talks on the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency. Oman controls the southern coastline of the strategic waterway, which remains a key route for global oil shipments.
Speaking at the White House on Friday, President Donald Trump said discussions with Iran were still underway, while warning that military action remained an option.
"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," he said.
When asked about his strategy for ending the conflict, Trump said:
"There's a military exit where we just keep going just the way we are, and we can even make it a heavier dose, and it's knocking out everything they have. Or there's a smarter strategy that you make a deal."
He added:"We're locked and loaded. We're ready to go."
Meanwhile, the US military said it intercepted and disabled a tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Friday after accusing the vessel of trying to evade an American blockade on Iranian ports. The ship became the second commercial vessel disabled since Washington reimposed the blockade earlier this month.
US Central Command spokesman Navy Captain Tim Hawkins said the crew ignored repeated warnings before US forces opened fire.
"We disabled the tanker after the crew attempted to run the blockade at least four times prior," he said.
"The crew was repeatedly warned, didn't comply, and US forces on scene disabled the ship after firing into its engine room. The ship is no longer transiting to Iran."
Concerns over the conflict and renewed threats to shipping in the Red Sea from Yemen's Houthis had pushed crude oil prices above $100 a barrel earlier this week, the highest level since May. However, prices later fell by more than $4 to just above $96 a barrel after two Chinese-chartered supertankers successfully passed through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The United States and the United Kingdom are also expected to hold a conference in London next week to discuss security in the Strait of Hormuz. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine are expected to attend.
The meeting comes ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's scheduled visit to the White House on Tuesday.
The latest developments follow the collapse of a ceasefire announced in June. At the time, the United States and Iran had agreed to a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding aimed at stopping military operations, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and working towards ending the conflict within 60 days.
However, three weeks later, Trump declared the ceasefire "over" following Iranian attacks on ships in the strait and subsequent US military strikes.