Saudi Arabia threatens to assault Iran as US launches strikes to reopen Strait of Hormuz and Houthis vow to enter conflict – stay updates

Iran’s neighbours are still intercepting drones and missiles today as the war continues to rage in the Middle East almost three weeks since the start of US-Israeli airstrikes were carried out in Operation Epic Fury.

Here’s the latest from the Gulf states on day 21 of the US-Israel war with Iran:

• Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said it had intercepted and destroyed more than a dozen drones in the country’s east and another in the north.

UAE authorities have arrested at least five members of a ‘terrorist network’ linked to Iran and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, state media said.

Bahrain’s interior ministry said that shrapnel from an ‘Iranian aggression’ caused a fire at a warehouse, which was brought under control and resulted in no injuries.

Drone attacks hit Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi oil refinery, causing several fires but no casualties, state media said, citing the national oil company.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said any US use of British bases would be seen as ‘participation in aggression’ against Tehran.

Araghchi made the remarks to UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper in a phone call, though it was not clear when the pair had spoken.

‘These actions will certainly be regarded as participation in aggression and will be recorded in the history of relations between the two countries,’ said Araghchi, according to a statement released Friday by the foreign ministry.

The UK initially blocked the US from using its military bases at the start of the conflict before reversing its position when a RAF Akrotiri came under attack in Cyprus.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have said the country is still producing missiles despite the war with Israel and the United States.

According to state-backed Fars news agency, the IRGC said its arms industry remains fully operational in contrary to claims by Benjamin Netanyahu.

‘Our missile industry deserves a perfect score… and there is no concern in this regard, because even under wartime conditions we continue missile production,’ Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said.

It comes after Netanyahu last night said that ‘Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium and manufacture ballistic missiles’.

A general view of Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery in Kuwait

Firefighters are battling a blaze at a giant oil refinery in Kuwait after a fresh drone attack from Iran.

The official Kuwait News Agency, citing the national oil company, said ‘several hostile drone attacks’ hit the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, causing fires but no casualties.

It said firefighters were working to contain the blazes while ‘several refinery units were shut down’.

It comes after European leaders called for an end to targeting Gulf energy infrastructure after many sites including Qatar’s vital Ras Laffan facility were hit.

The escalating damage to Gulf infrastructure has spiked oil and gas prices again and led to fears of lasting damage to global supplies.

Sri Lanka refused to allow the US to station two of its warplanes at a civilian airport on the island earlier this month, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has said.

The request was turned down to maintain Sri Lanka’s neutrality and ensure its territory was not used for any military purpose that could help or hinder either side, he told the nation’s parliament.

The Indian Ocean nation was drawn into the consequences of the war when US forces torpedoed an Iranian frigate off its coast in March.

‘They wanted to bring two warplanes armed with eight anti-ship missiles from a base in Djibouti to Mattala International Airport from March 4 to 8, and we said “no”,’ Dissanayake said.

He said the United States made the request on February 26. Iran made a similar request on the same day for three of its warships, returning from India after a naval exercise, to make a port call.

Crude oil prices dipped today with traders apparently welcoming remarks by Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump.

Netanyahu said the Iran war would end earlier than many feared and Trump insisted Israeli forces would not target any more of Tehran’s energy infrastructure

Both main oil contracts sank during Friday trading, though they pared the losses as the day went on.

Brent remains at around $108 and West Texas Intermediate about $94.

Before Netanyahu’s comments Thursday, the commodity had soared to as high as $119 after Tehran struck a number of energy sites around the Gulf in retaliation for Israel’s attack on its South Pars field.

European gas prices soared more than a third at one point.

Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted at boots on the ground in Iran after conceding the regime cannot be overthrown solely from the air.

Despite the nearly three-week war, it was still too soon to tell whether Iranians would take to the streets to try to topple the country’s leadership, Netanyahu said.

‘It’s up to the Iranian people to show that, to choose the moment and to rise to the moment,’ he said.

Netanyahu said that overthrowing the government would not be possible with air strikes alone, and suggested there might be potential action on the ground.

‘There has to be a ground component as well. There are many possibilities for this ground component, and I take the liberty of not sharing with you all those possibilities,’ Netanyahu said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the war will end earlier than many feared with Iran ‘decimated’ by Israel and the United States.

Netanyahu told a news conference Thursday that Israel and the United States were ‘winning and Iran is being decimated’, adding that the Islamic republic no longer had the capacity to enrich uranium or manufacture ballistic missiles.

‘This war is ending a lot faster than people think,’ he said without providing a specific timeframe.

Netanyahu also said he would help the United States try to secure Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas flows.

His comments came after Washington said there was no deadline to end the war launched against Iran on February 28.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have mocked the US military after a fire broke out on its aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford causing injuries to sailors and significant damage on board.

America’s most advanced aircraft carrier is preparing to leave the Red Sea for repairs in Crete after a blaze broke out in a laundry room last week.

One sailor was medically evacuated, while two others were treated for minor injuries in efforts to control the fire which left beds unusable after it raged for 30 hours before it was extinguished.

In a statement carried by the Mehr news agency, the Revolutionary Guards said:

What kind of military giant is this that is in crisis due to a fire in its own laundry room and is forced to leave the battlefield!’

The soldiers of Islam are waiting, eager to see and caress the American ship, deep in the battlefield, and are fully prepared to bring the wonders of the sea to the American marines’ close-up view.

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi last night signalled the Yemeni militant group could join the war alongside Iran.

The Iran-backed rebels have so far remained on the sidelines as the Iran war widens across the Middle East, raising questions about why — and when the battle-hardened group might join the fight.

Speaking at a lecture to mark the end of Ramadan, al-Houthi said ‘we are in a state of readiness based on all possibilities,’ in comments reported by the Yemen News Agency.

He added: ‘All options at the military level are possible. Escalation and expansion of aggression are the enemies’ path in their aggression in the region, and this is what we observe in our monitoring of events and follow-up of the enemies’ directions.’

The Houthis gained international prominence during the Israel-Hamas war over its attacks on shipping, which it said were aimed at forcing Israel to stop fighting.

It disrupted shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1trillion of goods passed each year before the war.

Air Force general and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine said the mission is taking the attack ships to the southern Iranian coast.

‘The A-10 Warthog is now engaged across the southern flank, targeting fast-attack watercraft in the Strait of Hormuz,’ he said Tuesday.

He added that the Apaches have ‘joined the fight on the southern flank’ and said that some allies have used them to ‘handle one-way attack drones.’

However, The Wall Street Journal reported that it could take weeks for the US to clear out the strait to get it operating closer to normal again.

At the same time, the US has been striking Iranian bases and IRGC cruise missile batteries, taking out over 120 of the country’s naval ships, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said Thursday.

Iran has responded by using small, unmanned boats with explosives, projectiles and airborne drones to attack enemy ships.

by Stephen M Lepore, US Senior Reporter

Donald Trump has called for US forces to open a new front in Iran as jets pound Iranian ships in an all-out battle to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Global fuel supplies have been under intense pressure because of Iran´s stranglehold on the strait, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported.

American forces have sent low-flying A-10 Warthogs and Apache attack helicopters to shoot at Iranian ships and drones.

The Pentagon is trying to nullify danger from Iranian weapons and reopen the strait, which has only seen about 90 ships cross since the war began.

The belief is that US military warships could act as an escort for ships to get in and out of the region through the strait.