THE Middle East conflict widened on Tuesday as Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen launched attacks on several Saudi cities, while US forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers and Tehran retaliated with a missile strike on a US base in Jordan.
The Houthi attacks targeted four cities in southern Saudi Arabia, wounding 73 people and setting oil-related installations ablaze, in what appeared to be a major escalation in the six-month-old war.
As oil markets reacted to the attacks, the US military’s Central Command said it had destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers, releasing video footage of the strikes and describing them as a response to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice in the previous two days.
No Americans were injured in the attacks, the US military said.
“Iran continues to try to hit U.S. naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers,” Reuters cited US Secretary of State Marco Rubio telling reporters during a visit to Colombia.
Iran later retaliated with a ballistic missile attack on a US base near Al Azraq in Jordan, according to an IRGC statement carried by Iranian state media.
Iranian state media also released video purporting to show missiles being launched towards Jordan.
Iran said its missiles caused heavy damage, but Jordan said its air defences intercepted 18 of the 20 missiles, while two landed in unpopulated areas. No casualties were reported.
Iran has targeted US allies across the region during the conflict, including Jordan, where a previous strike in July killed two US military personnel.
In a separate development, the IRGC also claimed to have attacked two US destroyers, according to Iranian state media. The US military had not immediately responded to the claim.
Iran also threatened to target oil tankers in ports in Kuwait and Bahrain, while a maritime security source said a liquefied natural gas tanker was damaged at the Emirati port of Khor Fakkan. It was not immediately clear who was responsible.
The latest escalation pushed benchmark Brent crude to its highest level since July 23, with prices rising by another US$1 a barrel after the attack in Jordan. However, oil remained below US$100 a barrel despite mounting disruptions to regional energy supplies.
The conflict has been marked by cycles of relative calm followed by renewed fighting, with Iran retaining the ability to launch missile and drone attacks against neighbouring countries and threaten oil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Houthis, who control much of Yemen’s populated territory including the capital Sanaa, have also periodically disrupted shipping at the southern end of the Red Sea, adding another potential pressure point for global trade and energy supplies.
On Tuesday, the Houthis said they had launched a broad operation deep inside Saudi territory, using drones and missiles to target a Saudi airbase in Khamis Mushait and assets belonging to Saudi state oil company Saudi Aramco in Abha, Najran and Jazan.
NASA satellite imagery showed a thick cloud of black smoke over the Jazan refinery and a column of white smoke rising from an oil distribution centre in Abha.
Saudi authorities confirmed fires at the sites and said women and children were among the 73 people injured.
The scale of the casualties suggested the attacks were among the most serious carried out against Saudi Arabia since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran in February.
Houthi attacks on southwestern Saudi Arabia could further increase the global economic impact of the conflict by threatening Middle East energy supplies beyond the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen for more than a decade after the group drove Yemen’s internationally recognised government from the capital. Fighting in Yemen had eased in recent years, but a ceasefire has since broken down.
The wider Gulf conflict has become a confrontation between the US and Iran, with both sides seeking to use economic pressure and competing blockades to force the other to back down.
Washington is seeking to maintain the flow of oil to global markets by facilitating shipping through the Strait of Hormuz while simultaneously restricting Iranian oil exports through its blockade.
US Central Command said the five tankers destroyed on Tuesday were part of a shadow network used to finance Iran’s IRGC and its regional allies.
Iran has long backed what it calls an “Axis of Resistance”, a network that includes Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi Shi’ite militias and the Houthis. - September 9, 2026
