U.S. military suddenly goes silent on Iran airstrikes while Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia exchange attacks in battle over Red Sea shipping

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Saturday that they fired missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia in response to Saudi airstrikes on the strategic Red Sea city of Hodeida, in another escalation over vital shipping routes in the Middle East while the United States and Iran vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz. Brig. Gen.

Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesman, said in a prerecorded statement that the attack targeted facilities in the Red Sea cities of Yanbu and Jizan that belong to Aramco, the world’s largest oil company. Saudi Arabia’s civil defense said alerts sounded multiple times early Saturday in both cities, but the Kingdom hasn’t commented further. There were no reported strikes overnight in Iran, in an apparent break from nearly two weeks of consecutive nights of U.

S. attacks, though tension remains high following a recent escalation between the two countries over the Strait of Hormuz. Red Sea escalation further threatens global shipping The rising tension in the Red Sea threatens to further choke global shipping because the rebels have said they would close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Saudi-linked shipping.

That strait, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is a vital shipping chokepoint, connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Around 12% of the world’s trade, including a quarter of its container traffic, passes through the narrows. The Houthis targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea this week.

In response, Saudi Arabia struck the Yemeni port city of Hodeida, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said early Saturday. The strikes late Friday hit the city’s port and the state-run telecommunications corporation, injuring two people, said Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesman for the Houthi-run health ministry. The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said it didn’t hit the port but struck “legitimate military targets” in Hodeida province, which “were linked to threats to commercial vessels in the Red Sea.”

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghch