Iran Conflict Spreads to Red Sea and Caspian as US Holds Off on Gulf Strikes

The Iran war broadened over the weekend despite a pause in U.S. strikes, as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis attacked Saudi oil facilities on the Red Sea coast and Tehran accused Ukraine of striking one of its commercial vessels in the Caspian Sea.

The U.S. military said on Saturday that its naval blockade of Iran “remains in full effect” but offered no explanation for ending a run of 13 consecutive nights of escalating strikes.

There were also no reported Iranian attacks on neighbouring countries over the weekend, in contrast to Tehran’s near-daily responses to earlier U.S. strikes.

Asked about the pause, a senior official in President Donald Trump’s administration said 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 has, for now, stepped back from plans to intensify attacks on Iran, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing two people briefed on the discussions.

According to the newspaper, Trump and his advisers are concerned that a wider military campaign could deepen the conflict, deplete U.S. weapons stockpiles, strain relations with Gulf allies, and disrupt global energy supplies and the broader economy.

Vice President JD Vance and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both raised concerns about U.S. munitions stockpiles during a White House meeting on Friday, a U.S. official told CNN. Military operations are “on hold”, a Department of Defense source told the broadcaster on Saturday.

Despite the lull in the Gulf, Saturday’s fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia underscored the risk of the conflict spreading beyond the Strait of Hormuz. Fresh attacks along the Red Sea threaten another vital shipping corridor and raise the prospect of Yemen’s long-running civil war reigniting.

Separately, Iran’s Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine of attacking an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, saying one sailor was killed and another injured.

The ministry summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran to protest what it described as a “hostile and criminal” attack, according to state news agency IRNA.

The accusation came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv had observed Russia sharing satellite intelligence on the Middle East with Iran to help it direct military strikes across the region.

War threatens to spread to Yemen

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group struck facilities belonging to Saudi state oil company Aramco in the Red Sea cities of Jizan and Yanbu on Saturday.

Video verified by Reuters showed a large plume 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 been informed of possible damage to fuel and oil storage facilities at Jizan. Aramco did not respond to requests for comment.

In Yanbu, Saudi authorities intercepted two missiles targeting oil infrastructure. Yanbu, Saudi Arabia’s main Red Sea oil export terminal, has become an increasingly important route for crude shipments that avoid the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blockaded.

Saudi-backed forces strike Houthi positions

In Yemen, officials said aircraft belonging to the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government carried out strikes on Houthi positions in Marib and al-Jawf provinces.

The officials said both sides in Yemen’s civil war were mobilising forces along the front lines.

Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition against the Houthis since the Iran-aligned movement seized the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, more than a decade ago.

The conflict, in which fighting and famine killed hundreds of thousands of people, had largely been suspended under a ceasefire since 2022.

That truce unravelled this month, however, as the Houthis effectively joined the wider regional conflict being fought by their Iranian allies following attacks by the United States and Israel five months ago.

Over the past week, the Houthis have declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, while Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi warned that all Saudi oil facilities could become targets.