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Yemen-linked escalation
Skirmishes between Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia intensified as the United States paused a nearly two-week run of nightly strikes on Iran, while the Houthis said they fired missiles and drones at facilities linked to Saudi Aramco in the Red Sea port towns of Jizan and Yanbu.
The Houthis, Islamist militants based in Yemen and backed by Iran, also announced they would blockade Saudi ports and attacked two Saudi-linked oil tankers in the Red Sea, according to the Financial Post’s account of the escalation.
A Saudi-led coalition responded by striking Houthi military positions later on Saturday, according to Yemen TV, a channel affiliated with the internationally recognized Yemeni government, and the day before the coalition struck the port from which the Houthis’ maritime attacks normally originate.
In parallel, the Financial Post said the pause followed “After attacking Iran for 13 days,” with no explanation or announcement, while the Times of Israel reported that Iran reported no strikes overnight into Saturday and that the US did not announce new strikes unlike the previous 13 nights.
Trump’s pause and Yemen
President Donald Trump told journalists that the US is “locked and loaded” for major strikes on Iran but said he had not made a decision, while the Financial Post reported he added that he did not think “it’s time yet.”
The American Conservative framed the same shift as the first time since July 13 that U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) did not report new airstrikes against Iran, while Tehran also appeared to have refrained from launching new attacks as the conflict entered its 148th day.
Against that backdrop, the American Conservative said the Houthis claimed responsibility for overnight attacks on two oil facilities in the Saudi towns of Jizan and Yanbu, and that the Houthis said the missile and drone attacks were intended as retaliation for recent Saudi strikes against Yemen’s Hodeidah port and Kamaran Island.
The Times of Israel added that sirens sounded multiple times early Saturday in Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu and Jizan provinces, which house crucial oil facilities on the Red Sea, and that the sirens were later lifted after being linked to a “potential danger”.
What’s at stake next
The Financial Post warned that the escalation in the Red Sea, layered on top of the nightly US strikes on Iranian military facilities and infrastructure, compounds “an already severe squeeze on regional energy flows,” with traffic through the Strait of Hormuz “remains largely paralyzed.”
“Trump directs US military to temporarily halt strikes on Iran: Report Decision reportedly suggests Trump wants to allow more room for diplomacy Berk Kutay Gokmen 25 July 2026•Update: 25 July 2026 ISTANBUL President Donald Trump directed the US military not to launch new strikes on Iran on Friday, ending nearly two weeks of daily attacks, Axios reported Saturday, citing sources familiar with the decision”
It also said any sustained disruption to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea export routes, mainly from Yanbu, would likely push up crude prices further, and it cited that Brent crude closed on Friday at $96.78 a barrel.
The Times of Israel described the conflict’s spillover into Yemen as Houthi allies targeting two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea and said Saudi Arabia struck the port city of Hodeida in Yemen, according to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said early Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Financial Post reported that the Houthis’ maritime actions threatened Saudi-linked shipping and that Saudi authorities briefly issued emergency warnings but retracted them and said the danger had passed, leaving the region poised for whether the Yemen-linked attacks and the Iran-strike pause translate into a broader agreement or a return to conflict.
