Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan intend to hold an urgent high-level meeting within the framework of a joint defense agreement to discuss ways to support the Kingdom in light of the attacks launched by the Houthis on it, while Tehran sought to distance itself from the rapid advance of its Houthi allies.
The Houthis launched attacks on the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and repeatedly fired into the kingdom's territory, disrupting the flow of oil from the world's largest energy exporter, as part of the expanding war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.
The Houthis said they fired dozens of missiles and drones at Saudi targets yesterday, Thursday, while authorities in Saudi Arabia reported that they intercepted six ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis.
Saudi Arabia had previously issued warnings to areas including Mecca and Jeddah, as well as Yanbu, the main Saudi oil port on the Red Sea.
A call for "jihad"
The highest religious authority in Saudi Arabia called on the forces to prepare to exert themselves and confront the Houthi group, according to a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency. The rare statement issued by the Grand Mufti of the Kingdom, Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan Al-Fawzan, was full of Quranic verses and hadiths urging unity and jihad.
Mecca Alliance denounces
Amid the exchange of attacks, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey held a meeting “within the framework of the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement” and condemned the attacks that targeted Mecca and other civilian sites, and affirmed, according to the statement, Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself. The statement added, "The meeting touched on the ongoing arrangements to hold an urgent meeting of the chiefs of staff in the three countries, with the aim of discussing ways to support the Kingdom in accordance with the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, and what it stipulates that any attack on any party is considered an attack on all parties."
The announcement of the meeting came shortly after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sought, in an interview with an American television channel yesterday, Thursday, to confirm that Iran has nothing to do with what the Houthis are doing.
“The Houthis are responsible for their actions,” Pezeshkian told the “Special Report with Bret Baier” program on Fox News, a day after his speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Pezeshkian's interview and speech came amid a cessation of fighting between the United States and Iran and a short diplomatic attempt in New York, where Qatar played the role of mediator between the two parties.
New proposal awaiting response
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters yesterday, Thursday, that Tehran had conveyed a proposal to the United States through mediators, according to which the Strait of Hormuz could be opened if conditions set by Tehran were met. The Iranian proposal includes stopping hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon, within seven days, while the United States will lift its blockade of Iranian ports, release frozen Iranian funds, and lift sanctions imposed on oil.
“The Strait of Hormuz will be reopened on the last day,” Araqchi said, adding that talks with the United States on other issues, including the Iranian nuclear issue, will come after that. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday that Tehran is studying Washington's response to its proposals to stop the war.
The war, which US President Donald Trump started in cooperation with Israel in February, killed thousands and caused disruption to global energy supplies, leading to higher oil prices.
While direct fighting between the United States and Iran has largely declined, Iran's allies in the region have not, as tensions continue between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon and the Houthis advance in Yemen.
Increasing pressures
Iran and its allies are exerting great pressure on Saudi oil exports, as the Houthis obstruct maritime traffic at the entrance to the Red Sea, while Iran has severely restricted the movement of oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of global oil exports passed before the war. An attack by Iranian-backed Iraqi armed groups temporarily disrupted the Saudi East-West pipeline.
There are debates among security experts about the extent of Iran's direct influence on the Houthis, a Shiite group that has evolved from a local insurgency into a powerful armed group that controls most of northern Yemen.
Yemeni governmental, Iranian and regional sources reported that the Houthi advance along the Yemeni coast on the Red Sea was carried out under the direct guidance of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
With the war against Iran largely deadlocked after months-long battles, Washington announced a change in tactics to expand the scope of its financial sanctions by targeting companies affiliated with third countries that do business with Iranian companies, a practice known as “secondary sanctions.”
Iranian airlines were banned yesterday, Thursday, from entering neighboring countries, including the UAE and Oman, after new US sanctions, in the first major impact of a change in US policy targeting companies in third countries that deal with Iran. If the flight ban continues, it may deepen Iran's isolation and exacerbate the economic crisis in the country, which is already facing a US blockade of its sea ports.
The Saudi-led military coalition supporting the government in Yemen announced that its forces intercepted on Thursday (September 24, 2026) six ballistic missiles launched by the Iran-backed Houthis, saying it had thwarted attacks on the Saudi cities of Taif and Yanbu.
Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Maliki said in a series of posts on the X platform, “The escalation and violations of the terrorist Houthi militia will be dealt with firmly.”
Earlier today, in publications on the
The Houthis announce that they targeted "Saudi concentrations" and "sensitive targets"
For its part, the Houthi group announced the implementation of a large-scale military operation targeting “Saudi concentrations” in the Al-Tuwal area in Jizan, with dozens of ballistic missiles and drones.
Yahya Saree, the military spokesman for the Houthis, said in a statement today, "The operation targeted the operations, command and control rooms, weapons stores and other sites, in addition to missile launch sites and platforms in the Al-Dagharir camp in Jizan."
He added that the operation also included a number of "Saudi enemy" camps in the region, noting that the attacks "were precise and direct." He claimed that the operation "resulted in the killing and wounding of hundreds of members of the Saudi enemy's mobilizations," in addition to "dozens of Saudi enemy personnel and officers." He also said that it "led to the destruction and burning of a number of weapons depots." Saudi Arabia did not confirm this.
In another statement, the Houthi group said that it launched attacks with missiles and drones targeting what it described as a “sensitive target” in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in addition to facilities belonging to Saudi Aramco in the city of Yanbu overlooking the Red Sea.
There has been no Saudi confirmation yet regarding an attack on Riyadh or recording damage or injuries in both Taif and Yanbu.
The spokesman stressed that his group would continue to "respond to sources of threat, respond to any aggression, and target all hostile movements wherever they may be," and impose what he described as the equation of "siege with siege and escalation with escalation until the Saudi aggression stops and the siege is ended."
