The war involving Iran widened into the Red Sea and Caspian regions over the weekend, even as the United States halted its nightly attacks on Iranian targets for the first time in nearly two weeks.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group claimed attacks on Saudi oil facilities along the Red Sea coast, while Tehran accused Ukraine of striking an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea.
The US military said its naval blockade of Iran remained in force but did not explain why it had suspended a campaign of escalating strikes that had continued for 13 consecutive nights.
Iran also appeared to halt its near-daily retaliatory attacks against neighbouring countries over the weekend.
A senior official in US President Donald Trump’s administration said the president continued to favour diplomacy but had demonstrated the consequences Iran would face if it refused to negotiate seriously.
The New York Times reported that Trump had temporarily stepped back from plans to intensify attacks on Iran because of concerns about expanding the conflict, reducing US defence stockpiles, alienating Gulf allies and disrupting global energy supplies.
Vice President JD Vance and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also raised concerns about US munitions supplies during a White House meeting on Friday, CNN reported, citing a US official.
A Pentagon source told the broadcaster that military operations were currently “on hold”.
Despite the relative calm in the Gulf, renewed fighting involving Saudi Arabia and the Houthis raised fears that the conflict could disrupt a second major international shipping route and reignite Yemen’s civil war.
Iran accuses Ukraine of Caspian Sea attack
Iran’s Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine of attacking an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, killing one sailor and injuring another.
The ministry summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran to protest what it described as a hostile and criminal attack, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.
Ukraine has not publicly confirmed responsibility.
The accusation came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv had obtained information suggesting Russia was providing Iran with satellite intelligence to help direct attacks in the Middle East.
Houthis target Saudi oil facilities
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had attacked facilities belonging to Saudi state oil company Aramco in the cities of Jizan and Yanbu on Saturday.
Videos verified by Reuters showed a large column of smoke rising from the direction of the Aramco refinery in Jizan, near the Yemeni border.
The refinery has the capacity to process up to 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Two Asia-based trading sources said they had received reports of possible damage to fuel and oil storage facilities in Jizan. Aramco did not immediately comment.
In Yanbu, Saudi air defences reportedly intercepted two missiles targeting oil installations.
Yanbu, Saudi Arabia’s main Red Sea oil port, has become increasingly important as an alternative export route because Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted shipping through the Gulf.
Yemen front lines mobilise
Officials in Yemen said forces belonging to the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government carried out air strikes against Houthi positions in Marib and al-Jawf provinces.
They also said both sides were mobilising forces along several front lines, raising fears of a return to full-scale fighting.
Saudi Arabia has led a regional military coalition against the Houthis since the group captured the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, more than a decade ago.
Yemen’s civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people through fighting, hunger and disease. Large-scale hostilities had largely subsided under a ceasefire in place since 2022.
That truce began to unravel this month after the Houthis entered the wider regional conflict in support of Iran.
The group has declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, while Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi has warned that all Saudi oil facilities could be considered potential targets.