The Houthis claim responsibility for an airstrike in Saudi Arabia, a new front in the Middle East conflict.

Yemen's Houthi rebels, allies of Tehran, claimed responsibility on Saturday for a missile attack in southwestern neighboring Saudi Arabia in retaliation for strikes by Riyadh, a new front in the Middle East war.

Iran, for its part, enjoyed a peaceful night after two weeks of unprecedented US bombing since the April ceasefire in this war that has killed thousands and shaken the global economy.

But Donald Trump did not rule out on Friday inflicting "a much worse level" of strikes on the Islamic Republic, with US media reporting discussions about a possible large-scale military operation.

The conflict has now spread to the shores of the Red Sea. After a four-year truce between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, which had provided military support to the Yemeni government against the rebels since 2015, hostilities resumed on July 13 between the two sides.

This situation increases uncertainty in a key region for global hydrocarbon transport, with the price of oil having once again crossed the $100 mark this week, before falling back.

"Dangerous escalation"

After attacking a Saudi airport last week, the Houthis claimed responsibility on Saturday for a missile attack on the coastal city of Jizan, near the border with Yemen, via their news site Ansarollah.

According to a video circulating on social media and verified by AFP, black clouds are rising above the refinery of the Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco.

The Saudi civil defense agency later lifted the alert in Jizan as well as in Yanbu, another coastal city further north.

The Houthis had previously reported Saudi strikes on Hodeida, a port they control on Yemen's west coast, promising to retaliate.

Faiza, a 36-year-old mother of two from Hodeida, said she heard three explosions, like "a clap of thunder." "I didn't want to believe the strikes had resumed," she told AFP, as the conflict in Yemen has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

According to Houthi media, which reported two injuries, facilities belonging to the telecommunications authority were targeted. A naval base was also among the targets, according to a Yemeni security source contacted by AFP.

The Saudi-led military coalition, for its part, indicated that it had "delivered a decisive response" against Houthi military sites following the attack on commercial vessels this week in the Red Sea. "The military response is now complete," its spokesman, Turki al-Maliki, confirmed on X.

On their official website, the rebels denounced "a dangerous escalation".

"More serious"

The Houthis announced on Monday that they wanted to block Saudi ships from using the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, even though this route has become vital for the kingdom to circumvent Tehran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.

The Saudi press agency has since confirmed two attacks against Saudi ships.

While some ships have turned back in the face of Houthi threats, traffic is currently continuing through the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. And the Houthis insist that their maritime blockade is not intended to paralyze it.

Faced with this new front, Donald Trump this week threatened the Houthis and Iran with "major military punishment".

But as the war drags on, shattering the memorandum of understanding signed in June by Tehran and Washington, the American president is leaving the diplomatic path open and has said he is "talking" with Iranian leaders.

"I think they are becoming more and more serious as the days go by, perhaps for an obvious reason," he added, referring to the almost daily US airstrikes.

Iran has a choice between making a deal with Washington or facing "a much worse level" of bombing, he warned.

Since the resumption of hostilities on July 7, the Islamic Republic has retaliated by striking US allies in the region.

On Friday, it claimed responsibility for attacks against military installations used by US forces in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait.

"For every proud Iranian citizen of the Islamic Republic killed, an American soldier will be sent to hell," threatened Army Chief Ali Abdullahi.

Three American servicemen have been killed in Jordan and Iraq in this new phase of the war.

On the Iranian side, the latest official figures published on Friday list 59 dead and more than 600 wounded since the first skirmishes at the end of June.

AFP