The activity of the East-West oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia has been suspended "as a precaution" after the infrastructure "was the subject of several attacks" in the areas of Riyadh and Medina: the Saudi Ministry of Energy announced this. "Several injuries" were reported in the attacks, we read in a statement. Technical teams were "immediately" activated to make the pipeline safe, the statement added.
After the attacks, Iraq ordered the closure of the Shalamcheh border crossing between Iraq and Iran as a precautionary measure, two security sources told Reuters. According to sources, a large-scale operation has been launched to hunt down the perpetrators of the attack.
Iran was behind the air attack against Saudi Arabia which blocked its oil pipeline, one of the kingdom's main routes for the export of crude oil, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz: this is what US President Donald Trump said in Dublin quoted by the international media. “I think they are, they probably are,” Trump told reporters when asked if Iran was responsible for the attack on the vital oil pipeline.
Trump, speaking during his meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, also said he had spoken with Saudi Arabia's crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, whom he called a "friend." According to online news site Axios, bin Salman called the US president twice on Thursday to ask him to strike Yemeni fighters, but the request was rejected.
Iraq then closed three border crossings with Iran following the attack. Some officials report this, explaining that the decision is part of "an intelligence activity aimed at identifying those responsible and preventing their escape... as well as hindering the smuggling of drones through these crossings". The sources were unable to specify when the crossings will be reopened.
The closed crossings are those of Shalamsheh (in the province of Basra), al-Shib (in Missan) and al-Mandali (in the central province of Diyala). Other border crossings with Iran remain open. Immediately after the attack, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi removed from office the military commander of Missan province, on the border with Iran, after the authorities established that the drones had departed from that area.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the action. An alliance of powerful Iraqi armed groups, backed by Tehran, has denied responsibility although Riyadh has in the past accused such groups of targeting its oil infrastructure.
Yemeni government forces, backed by Saudi Arabia, said on Monday they had struck Houthi fighters on the country's western coast, a day after the pro-Iranian movement took control of the region. “The armed forces destroyed vehicles and weapons today and eliminated members of the Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist militia near the port of Mocha,” the official Saba news agency reported.
The forces also targeted the outskirts of the Red Sea city and the road leading to Dhubab, further south, the agency added, citing armed forces spokesman Majid al-Nazili. The Houthis, who until now controlled much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sana'a and Hodeida in the west, advanced south within days, capturing Mocha on Thursday. They then took control of the coast and islands of the Red Sea, consolidating their hold on the strategic Strait of Bab el-Mandeb.
US President Donald Trump said that Yemeni Houthi fighters, allies of Iran - who have conquered a strategic crossing point between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in Yemen - have asked Washington not to intervene. “The Houthis called us and they don't want to fight with us,” Trump told reporters during a visit to Dublin. “They don't want us to attack them,” he added.
"Today, Iran remains steadfast in the face of the United States and the Zionist regime and will not give in to their bullying." This was stated by the president, Masoud Pezeshkian, meeting representatives of religious and Indian business circles late yesterday evening, on the sidelines of the Brics Forum in New Delhi.
"These self-styled champions of human rights are, in reality, malevolent actors who label us as terrorists", he added, quoted by the IRNA agency, underlining: "We are paying the price for this position, yet, as long as we live, we will pursue truth and justice and will not bow to oppression, tyranny or bullying."
The new round of talks between Israel and Lebanon in Rome, scheduled for next week in Rome, has been postponed until October. A US official said. The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors will still meet next week at the State Department in Washington "to discuss ongoing developments and further implementation" of a framework agreement agreed in June, said the official, who requested anonymity. The Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, confirmed that "there are currently no new talks with Israel". The local media reported it.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on
Baghaei accused Washington of trying to justify "a reckless and illegal war against Iran" by invoking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Reacting to remarks made by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during the commemorative ceremony, he denounced what he called "fundamental contradictions in American foreign policy".
The statement came after Hegseth said on the anniversary of 9/11 that the United States is still "sending terrorists where they deserve to be: to hell" in its war against Iran. “The perpetrators of 9/11 were not Iranians, they were precisely the same people that the US had armed, organized or otherwise supported in previous decades,” Baghaei added.
