Videos verified by CNN show Singapore-flagged container ship GFS Pride sinking after it was struck by unknown projectiles on October 13.
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- The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations monitoring agency said at least 10 vessels have been attacked in or near the Strait of Hormuz since last Sunday, a weekly high since war broke out in February, and 23 attacks were recorded since the start of the month, almost double the average.
- Yemen’s foreign minister blasted Iran’s offer to mediate the war between the internationally recognized government and the Iran-backed Houthi militant group. “When Iran’s foreign minister and his officials offer ‘mediation’ in Yemen, they are offering to mediate a war ignited by the coup of the Houthi terrorist militia with their regime’s backing,” she said.
- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian denied Friday that Tehran sought nuclear weapons, expressed readiness for dialogue and condemned U.S. sanctions during talks with Georgia’s prime minister.
Saudi military intercepts 2 ballistic missiles, official says
Residents in the Saudi capital of Riyadh received a mobile phone alert early Sunday morning local time warning of a “hostile aerial threat,” Agence France-Presse journalists reported, after days of attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants.
“Warning. The area is under a hostile aerial threat. Please remain calm, stay indoors or in a safe place away from windows and doors,” read the alert, which was lifted a few minutes later.
Col. Turki Al-Maliki, a spokesperson for a Saudi-led military coalition that supports Yemen’s internationally-recognized government, later posted on X that Saudi Arabia had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles that were fired by the Houthis toward the city of Khamis Mushait in southwest Saudi Arabia, as well as a drone that was fired at Riyadh.
Yemeni foreign minister criticizes Iranian offer to mediate Houthi war
Yemen’s foreign minister is blasting Iran’s offer to mediate the war between the internationally recognized government and the Iran-backed Houthi militant group.
“When Iran’s foreign minister and his officials offer ‘mediation’ in Yemen, they are offering to mediate a war ignited by the coup of the Houthi terrorist militia with their regime’s backing, and prolonged by that regime’s arming, financing, and training of the militia and its supply of missiles, drones, and experts,” Yemeni Foreign Minister Afrah Alzouba said as part of a lengthy statement.
“Tehran has made itself a party to the war on Yemenis,” she continued. “Instead of offering mediation, its regime should withdraw its hand and its weapons from Yemen, respect the sovereignty of states, and abide by international law and the principles of good neighborliness.”
Iran’s foreign ministry on Friday rejected Saudi Arabia’s accusation that Tehran was involved in Houthi attacks on the kingdom, offering to mediate between the two sides.
The Houthis are backed financially and militarily by Iran, officials from the U.S. and Israel, as well as many regional analysts, have said for years.
“The Houthis are the most powerful proxy within the Iranian network, hands down,” Mohammed Al-Basha, founder of the Basha Report, a U.S.-based risk advisory group, told CBS News. “Any U.S. military strategy planning a campaign on Iran will have to take into consideration what the Houthis will do next.”
Saudi strikes that began overnight have killed at least 12 people in Yemen, three of them children, Houthi media reported on Saturday.
Saudi warplanes targeted “civilian homes” in Taiz governorate on Saturday, killing nine people and wounding 16, the Iran-backed group’s news agency said, adding people were still trapped under the rubble.
The agency had earlier reported overnight strikes in Dhamar province that killed three children and wounded 17 other people.
It said the strikes were carried out “using cluster bombs, which are banned internationally.”
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis has launched daily raids in Yemen backing the internationally recognized government in the country’s long-running civil war.
President Sisi says Egypt ready to defend Saudi Arabia “if requested”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday said Egypt was ready to defend Saudi Arabia “if requested,” as fighting flares between the kingdom and Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
Since Yemen’s war reignited in July, the Houthis have repeatedly attacked Saudi targets, including energy facilities and Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, where 13 people were killed in a single attack last Saturday.
The Houthis have also blockaded the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Saudi-flagged tankers, piling pressure on energy exports as Iran presses its own blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking at a graduation ceremony at the Egyptian military academy, Sisi said Egypt was “not looking for a role to play” in regional conflicts, but added it was “inconceivable” for Cairo to stand by while Saudi Arabia was “harmed or its security and stability threatened.”
“Egypt, of course, with the directives of His Majesty King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will carry out any measure to protect you or defend you,” he said.
He added any deployment would require parliamentary approval and said he hoped lawmakers would convene in an emergency session to grant authorization “if it is requested of us.”
“I’m not talking about fighting anyone or attacking anyone,” Sisi said. “We are speaking only about defense.”
CBS
