Saudi-led coalition intercepts Houthi drones targeting Riyadh amid broader Yemen-Iran tensions

The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Houthis said on Saturday that its forces intercepted two drones fired by the Iran-backed group, which were headed for the capital Riyadh.

"Air defences intercepted and destroyed two drones launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards the Riyadh area," the coalition spokesman said on X.

The Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, hitting its tankers, seizing swathes of Yemen's Red Sea coast vital for oil exports and causing energy prices to jump, while also raining missiles on the kingdom.

The coalition spokesman said separately on Saturday that Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed a Houthi-launched ballistic missile targeting Khamis Mushait, a city in the country's southwest that is home to an air base.

Hezam Alasad, a member of the Houthi Political Bureau, said on Saturday that "Despite the operation's strength, scope, and impact, our armed forces view it as merely a small-scale rehearsal for a full-scale escalation."

Iran offered a plan to reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz, Tehran said on Friday, but within hours reports indicated that US President Donald Trump had rejected the proposal.

The waterway, which is key to the world's oil supply, is central to the conflict between the United States and Iran, which has remained at a stalemate for nearly seven months.

But new mediation efforts at the UN gathering of world leaders in New York this week have offered some optimism of progress towards a deal.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran had offered Washington a plan that would see the Strait of Hormuz reopened to maritime navigation within seven days once agreed.

Araghchi met for talks on Tuesday with US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, and previously set out conditions for ending the war and reopening the vital energy shipping channel.

"Iran has conveyed to the United States, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan. If the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened, and normal maritime passage restored within seven days," Araghchi said at the UN Friday.

"The choice now rests with the United States. Iran does not accept coercion, threats, or intimidation, and Iran will not surrender its sovereign rights under pressure.

"I can tell you if there is seriousness in the US side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared."

Earlier media reports suggest the new plan calls for a cessation of all hostilities in the Middle East for seven days, including in Lebanon.

It also reportedly calls for the release of frozen Iranian assets estimated to be worth at least $12 billion, as well as the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil and an end to the US naval blockade of Iran.

Iran has disputed an Axios report that Tehran and Washington are preparing for another round of negotiations, with an Iranian source described by Fars News as “informed” saying the report was false.

The source also rejected an Al Jazeera report that Iran was sending technical experts to New York for negotiations, describing the claim as “untrue”.

According to Fars News, the source characterised Western reports about renewed talks as “manufacturing news” and said they were intended to influence markets and oil prices.

The head of Yemen's governing body on Friday called for a general mobilisation to counter the Iran-backed Houthis, as the group ramps up attacks on government forces and their Saudi backer.

His call comes weeks after Yemen's fragmented government was dealt a major blow by the Houthis, who seized control of the country's entire Red Sea coast and are still fighting its forces in Yemen and attacking Saudi ships and territory.

"I call upon the sons of our great people to engage in general mobilisation and national mobilisation, to rally around their armed and security forces," Rashad Al Alimi, who heads the Presidential Leadership Council and is also Supreme Commander of the Yemeni Armed Forces, said in a speech.

Anyone defecting from the Houthis to the government side will be pardoned in an upcoming amnesty, he added.

Alimi heads Yemen's Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council, whose forces are fighting the Houthis with air support from the kingdom.

Over the week-end, the Houthis attacked Riyadh for the first time in years, marking a major escalation.

Earlier on Friday, the military chiefs of staff of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan held talks on how to support Riyadh as Yemen's Houthis ramp up attacks on the world's top crude exporter.