Houthi attacks Saudi Arabia after Red Sea port strikes

Yemen’s Houthi movement said Houthi attacks Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones on Saturday, targeting facilities tied to Aramco after Saudi airstrikes hit the Red Sea city of Hodeida. The exchange adds pressure to key shipping routes as the wider U.S.-Iran conflict keeps tensions high around the Strait of Hormuz.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesman, said in a prerecorded statement that the group aimed at Aramco facilities in Yanbu and Jizan, two Saudi cities on the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia’s civil defense said alerts sounded several times early Saturday in both cities, but the kingdom did not immediately give more details.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said it struck Hodeida province late Friday after the Houthis targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea this week. The coalition said it hit “legitimate military targets” linked to threats against commercial ships, while denying that it struck the port.

Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesman for the Houthi-run health ministry, said the Saudi strikes hit Hodeida’s port and the state-run telecommunications corporation, injuring two people.

Why do Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia matter for shipping?

The Red Sea is one of the world’s main trade corridors, and the Houthis have said they would close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to shipping linked to Saudi Arabia. The Bab el-Mandeb sits between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, making it a narrow passage for ships moving between Asia, Europe and beyond.

About 12% of global trade, including a quarter of container traffic, passes through the strait, according to the reported figures. Any extended disruption there could force ships onto longer routes and add strain to oil, container and bulk cargo movements.

The Houthis are backed by Iran, and their latest confrontation with Saudi Arabia comes as Tehran and Washington remain locked in a separate escalation centered on the Strait of Hormuz. That waterway, between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, is another chokepoint for energy shipments.

What happened with U.S. strikes in Iran?

No new strikes were reported overnight in Iran, marking an apparent pause after nearly two weeks of nightly U.S. attacks. U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond to a request for comment and did not announce new strikes, unlike on the previous 13 nights.

Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesperson for Iran’s Health Ministry, wrote Saturday on X that Iran had a peaceful night. The pause followed a sharp deterioration this month in a fragile ceasefire that had stopped major operations for several weeks after U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran in late February.

The United States has accused Iran of striking three ships in the Strait of Hormuz and responded by hitting dozens of targets in Iran. Iran then fired at U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states, according to the reported account of the conflict.

On Friday, the U.S. military fired on a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Oman that officials said was trying to breach a renewed blockade of Iran’s ports. U.S. embassies also warned Americans in the Middle East that options for leaving could become more limited, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guard advised people in neighboring countries to stay away from bases housing U.S. troops.

The war has killed more than 3,400 people in Iran, according to Iran’s Health Ministry. Reported deaths also include 18 U.S. service members, 24 civilians in Israel and smaller numbers of civilians across the region. In Lebanon, more than 4,000 people and 38 Israeli troops have been killed after the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement fired at Israel in support of Iran.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.