Iran's IRGC warns US of 'more lethal' response as Houthi missile debris injures Saudi resident

Iran's Fars News reported that two oil tankers had "exploded" in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday.

The report alleged that both tankers had switched off their tracking systems before the explosions.

Yemen's Houthis said Saudi forces launched 26 strikes on capital Sanaa on Saturday, the group's media reported, as the country's revived civil war escalated further.

Al Masirah TV said Saudi aircraft targeted the Houthi-held capital, without providing details on casualties. Saudi forces hit Sanaa for the first time in years on Thursday, Houthi media reported.

Iran's Intelligence Ministry announced Saturday that its forces have arrested 31 members of four organised "sabotage" networks allegedly linked to the United States and Israel in the southeastern Kerman province.

In a statement published on its website, the ministry said the networks' members were detained in Sirjan County, adding that the detainees sought to carry out the US and Israeli "enemies' plots" to disrupt people's security and destroy public and private property.

According to the ministry, the networks were preparing to cause street riots and destruction and had made large numbers of Molotov cocktails as well as tools to damage public property, such as urban surveillance cameras, Xinhua News Agency reported.

It added that the networks' members had committed "widespread brutal and destructive" acts during the January unrests in Iran, including setting the governor's office building on fire, damaging banks, government buildings, as well as public and private buildings and properties, attacking police stations and destroying urban surveillance cameras.

Flames and smoke were seen rising from a facility belonging to Saudi oil giant Aramco south of the kingdom's capital Riyadh on Saturday, an AFP journalist said.

The circumstances remained unclear but in recent weeks Aramco, majority-owned by the Saudi state, has come under attack from the Houthi group targeting the kingdom as part of the war in Yemen where Riyadh is backing the internationally recognised government.

The journalist reported seeing fire engines attempting to extinguish a blaze at the energy giant's Riyadh refinery, located south of the capital, while ambulances and police vehicles were stationed near the facility.

Both the Houthis and Saudi authorities had yet to comment on the incident.

Loud explosions were heard in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Saturday, as the Houthis reported airstrikes in the area by Saudi forces.

One correspondent heard at least five blasts in different areas, while another saw two warplanes firing missiles on the city.

Al Masirah TV, a Houthi-affiliated media outlet, reported the attack, without providing details on the targets or casualties.

The channel had also earlier on Saturday reported missile strikes on the telecommunications network in the northwestern governorate of Saada, a Houthi stronghold.

The International Energy Agency said Saturday that member countries had so far released 325 million barrels of oil and oil-derivative products from strategic reserves, from 400 million barrels promised in March.

The update came a day after G7 countries, in coordination with the IEA, agreed to immediately release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil to ease global energy supply concerns caused by fallout from the US-Iran war.

The G7 did not say whether the 100 million barrels included the outstanding 75 million barrels from the March IEA commitment, or came on top of that.

Five Indian nationals were brought safely ashore with assistance from Omani authorities after a Kuwait-flagged tanker was struck by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Indian Embassy in Oman.

The embassy confirmed on Friday that it had coordinated efforts to assist the crew members aboard the MT Kazimah III, working with authorities in Oman to ensure their safe evacuation.

Iran said Saturday it had executed a man convicted of a raft of charges including firing a military-grade weapon at police officers during anti-government protests earlier this year.

Siavash Jamshidi was accused of targeting security personnel during mass demonstrations that peaked in January in which thousands of people were killed.

Since that time, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions of convicts linked to the unrest.

"Jamshidi was sentenced to death on charges of moharebeh through brandishing and firing a firearm, as well as conspiracy and collusion against national security," Iran's judiciary said, using the legal term moharebeh to mean "waging war against God".

Saudi Arabia's Civil Defense said falling debris from an intercepted ballistic missile injured one resident in Ahad Rafidah Governorate, in the southern Asir region. In a post on X, the authority said the debris also damaged a prayer room inside a building, as well as several vehicles.

Saudi Civil Defence teams in Najran responded on Friday after a hostile projectile launched by the Houthi militia struck a school, causing material damage, an official spokesperson said.

The Civil Defence authorities said standard procedures for dealing with such incidents were carried out.

The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles launched by Yemen's Houthis toward Khamis Mushait, in southern Saudi Arabia's Asir region. Coalition spokesperson Major General Turki Al-Malki announced the interceptions.

Trump is considering putting US boots on the ground in Iran after the November midterms, because he feels he has "nothing to lose," per initial reports citing US officials.

A third US aircraft carrier and a second Marine expeditionary landing unit with more than 2,000 Marines are already heading to the region, which would bring the total to three carriers and two amphibious groups around Iran by November.

Yemen's Houthis said on Friday that Saudi forces launched 94 strikes against areas under their control in the past 24 hours, as the pro-Iran group and the Riyadh-backed government clash in the country's revived civil war.

The group said that the number of Saudi strikes on its positions had reached 1,350 since the start of the renewed fighting, saying they targeted areas across Houthi-held Yemen.

Iran’s IRGC is now warning it is fully prepared “with its finger on the trigger” to respond “decisively, immediately, painfully and more lethally than Operation True Promise II” to any US or regional threat, aggression or miscalculation, saying it has comprehensive intelligence on U.S. and Israeli assets and positions, per Mehr News.

Operation True Promise II was Iran’s October 2024 ballistic missile attack on Israel, when Tehran launched around 200 missiles. The IRGC is now explicitly warning that any new confrontation could bring a response even larger and more lethal than that attack.

The warning comes as the US deploys the USS Theodore Roosevelt and Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group toward the Middle East, potentially bringing three US carrier strike groups and two Amphibious Ready Groups near Iran by the end of November.

Day 217: US sends 9,000 more troops, third carrier to Middle East

Day 216: US sends 9,000 more troops, third carrier to Mid-East

Day 215: Iran says received US response to its proposal to end war

Day 214: Iran threatens strikes as it awaits US response to Hormuz plan

Day 213: Iran supreme leader says US will be forced out of Middle East

Day 212: Trump expects talks with Iran to resume in coming week

Day 211: US military activity surges around Strait of Hormuz

Day 210: Trump discusses Iran conflict with Xi Jinping