Despite a lull in US strikes that had continued for 13 consecutive nights, this past weekend brought a dramatic expansion of the Middle East conflict. The White House is weighing its steps, concerned about damage to the global economy and emergency ammunition stockpiles. Meanwhile, Iran’s allies in Yemen launched a direct attack on Saudi energy infrastructure, Reuters reported on Sunday.
2+American officials noted that President Donald Trump’s administration decided to pause the wave of strikes following heavy concerns raised during a White House meeting by Vice President JD Vance and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.
The two warned against depleting emergency ammunition stockpiles, expanding the regional confrontation, alienating Gulf state alliances, and harming the global energy supply and economy. Although the US naval blockade against Iran remains in full force and operational activity was only temporarily suspended—with the US ambassador noting the administration is giving diplomacy and negotiations a chance—calm was not maintained on the ground.
2+On the other hand, the Houthis in Yemen, led by group spokesperson Yahya Sarea, announced they attacked facilities belonging to Saudi oil company Aramco in the Red Sea coastal cities of Jizan and Yanbu. At the Jizan refinery—located near the Yemeni border with a capacity to process up to 400,000 barrels of oil per day—a massive column of smoke was documented, along with reports of damage to fuel and oil storage sites.
In Yanbu, which has become a key route for bypassing the Strait of Hormuz blocked by Iran, two missiles fired at energy facilities were intercepted. These attacks threaten to reignite the civil war in Yemen, where the internationally recognized Yemeni government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, has already launched strikes against Houthi targets in the Marib and Al-Jawf governorates.
2+Parallel to the arena in Yemen, the Iranian Foreign Ministry filed a sharp official protest and summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran after an Iranian commercial vessel was attacked in the Caspian Sea, an incident that Tehran said left one crew member dead and another injured. The Iranian reprimand came shortly after statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who noted that Kyiv identified Moscow transferring Middle East satellite imagery to Iran to help direct strikes in the region.