Iran-US war latest: Houthis claim attack on Saudi base as military advance in Yemen intensifies

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed on Sunday to have struck facilities at a military base in Saudi Arabia as the burgeoning conflict threatens to throw the region back into chaos. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said that the Iran-backed group had targeted “weapons depots and command and control centers” at the southern Sharurah base. Saree claimed that a joint ballistic missile and drone attack hit its targets and warned of wider measures if the Saudi attacks on Yemen continue.

The escalation follows a lightning Houthi advance to the Red Sea coast this week, giving the group greater power to attack Saudi ships around the Bab-al Mandeb strait. Oil hovered around $100 per barrel on Sunday amid growing fears the clashes could drag in the US to help its ally in Riyadh, prolonging the six-month conflict with Iran to the east. Separately, a crew member was killed early on Sunday when an Iranian commercial ship was attacked near the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian media.

There has been no statement so far from the US military, which has previously struck Iranian vessels to enforce its blockade of the country's ports. Hamas planned to carry out terror attacks in European capitals last year to mark the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks in Israel, according to an indictment filed by Germany’s federal prosecutor. The Palestinian group reportedly intended to carry out attacks on Israeli and Jewish ‘interests’ in Berlin and Vienna around October 7 2025, according to the indictment, as seen by German broadsheet Die Welt.

It was said to have been backed by “an international weapons-procurement network” that moved pistols, a rifle and ammunition through Europe. The plot is claimed to have come undone just days before the attacks were due to be carried out, as German authorities swooped on three suspects in Berlin during the handover of a cache of weapons that prosecutors say were intended for the operation. Federal prosecutors in Germany last year said they had arrested men linked to Hamas who were suspected of planning attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Germany.

Donald Trump said on Saturday that Iran was probably responsible for the aerial attack on Saudi Arabia that shut down its East-West pipeline, one of the kingdom's main routes for exporting crude while bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. "I think they are, probably they are," Trump told reporters in Dublin when asked if Iran was responsible for the attack on the vital oil conduit. The president also said that he had spoken with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom he described as a "good friend." Trump added that Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis had called his administration and indicated they did not want the United States to become directly involved in the conflict.

There have been no talks between the United States and Iran to end the conflict since a June agreement that collapsed within weeks. In a post on X on Saturday, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, said: "As long as the American side does not accept all of Iran's conditions, dialogue and negotiation are of no use." Iran's foreign ministry announced on Friday that Iran would be attending a meeting with Gulf Arab states in Oman on Monday, at which the future of the Strait of Hormuz would be discussed. But a senior Iranian official, speaking to on Saturday, played down the chances of a breakthrough, saying the meeting, called at Oman's initiative, was intended to discuss issues including the strait but was not expected to yield a signed agreement.