Houthi Strikes on Saudi Oil Sites Mark Major Escalation in Regional Conflict

A new front opens in the US-Iran war as Houthi forces unleash missiles and drones against Saudi Arabia's most critical oil sites on the Red Sea. This attack marks a major escalation of regional tensions reignited by American and Israeli strikes on Tehran. Conflict also spills into the Caspian Sea after Iran accuses Ukraine of sinking an Iranian vessel there.

Tehran-backed fighters in Yemen struck two facilities belonging to Aramco, the state oil giant, late Friday night or early Sunday morning. The attacks targeted installations in Jizan and Yanbu. A massive plume of smoke rose over Jizan's refinery following the strike. In Yanbu, a key export gateway on the west coast, Patriot batteries operated by Greek troops intercepted two incoming ballistic missiles before they could hit their marks.

Yet skies above Iran remained quiet for a second straight night as Sunday morning arrived. No fresh US air raids were reported against Iranian soil. This silence comes after thirteen consecutive nights of bombing since July 11. Those waves followed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attack on tankers trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Both sides declared an interim peace deal signed in June dead. Talks for a comprehensive settlement now look doomed.

Even if Washington and Tehran resume discussions via mediators, the chain reaction unleashed by this war keeps spreading chaos elsewhere. Iran's harassment of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz strangles exports of oil and fertilizer raw materials. Energy prices shoot up while vulnerable nations face looming food security crises. Hezbollah resumed missile fire on Israel in March after Iranian attacks. That aggression triggered a devastating Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon which displaced 1.2 million people.

Now another smoldering war burns between US-allied Saudi Arabia and the Houthis who control most of northern and western Yemen, including Sanaa. Riyadh and its allies joined a brutal civil war against these fighters in 2015. A truce held until 2022 finally collapsed this month. An attack on Sanaa airport halted an Iranian plane's landing. That provocation sent Houthis firing ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia. Last Monday, Houthi leaders declared a naval blockade of the kingdom. Friday night saw Saudi air strikes on the Houthi-held city of Hodeidah.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree confirmed Sunday's retaliatory launch against Aramco assets in Jizan and Yanbu. No official comment emerged from Riyadh regarding specific damage levels to the Jizan refinery, though smoke was clearly visible. Fears mount that Houthis might block the Bab al-Mandeb Strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Such a blockade would cripple global trade routes entirely. The region burns hotter by the hour as old alliances fracture and new hostilities ignite across multiple fronts simultaneously.

If both the Bab al-Mandeb and Hormuz straits were blocked, the resulting supply chain crisis would cause major economic damage across the world.

The conflict has grown beyond borders. The US-Iran war is now entangled with Russia's attempt to conquer Ukraine, creating a dangerous web of violence that spills into the Red Sea.

On Saturday, a long-range strike on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea caused an explosion. One sailor died and another was wounded, according to Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Tehran blamed the attack on Ukraine and summoned Kyiv's charge d'affaires in Tehran to convey its condemnation of the "hostile and criminal" act.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X that Kyiv had achieved "very strong results" with long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea, hitting "vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship".

Zelenskyy claimed in further comments on X on Saturday that since the start of July, Kyiv had detected "active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and US military facilities located there". He said the satellite images were passed to Tehran to help the IRGC identify targets for ballistic missile and drone attacks.

US President Donald Trump has not given a reason for the sudden cessation in air strikes on Iran, but a senior administration official told the Reuters news agency that Trump "has always been clear that his preference is diplomacy, but he has shown Iran what will happen if they fail to come to the table in a serious way".

Trump said on Friday that there was still some communication with Iran.

"They are talking to us right now; they'd love to make a deal," he said. "I don't think they're ready to … but I'm willing to listen."

Al Jazeera's Resul Serdar, reporting from Tehran, said Iranian officials had confirmed the two sides were exchanging messages.

"There have been proposals conveyed by the mediators, and Tehran is still reviewing them," Serdar said, adding there was "not much progress yet" due to "fundamental differences" in their positions and deep mistrust.