Falling shrapnel damaged a Saudi Aramco office tower in Riyadh on Sunday after an attempted attack, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said, as the United States moved to extend pressure on Iran beyond its naval blockade. The ministry reported no injuries or deaths. A Reuters witness saw windows blown out across several floors of the building in King Abdullah Financial District.
Saudi civil defence issued an early warning before residents heard loud blasts and later lifted the alert. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted two ballistic missiles fired by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis towards Riyadh and two cruise missiles over the capital and southern Saudi Arabia. The Energy Ministry did not identify who targeted the Aramco building.
The exchange followed deadly strikes in Yemen. Houthi-run Al-Masirah television initially reported that rescuers had recovered 11 bodies after airstrikes destroyed five homes in Ash Sharyah, east of Sanaa. Yemen’s Houthi-run health ministry subsequently put the death toll near the capital at 33 or higher, Reuters reported. Saudi authorities said they were investigating.
Houthis blame Riyadh for village strikes
The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for the village strikes and said their attacks on the kingdom were in retaliation for those strikes and a Friday attack on a market in Taiz province. Houthi officials said at least 30 people died at the market. The Houthis and Yemen’s Saudi-backed military blamed each other for that attack.
In the Gulf of Oman, US Central Command said an aircraft fired at the stern of a St Kitts-flagged cargo ship on Saturday after it ignored warnings and tried to breach the US blockade. Separately, the United Arab Emirates said it rescued 22 crew members from a burning cargo ship. All were in stable condition, the UAE National Guard said. It did not name the ship or give a cause for the fire.
Iranian state media reported explosions late Saturday in southern Iran, including on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy said two oil tankers caught fire after hitting mines while attempting to use an “unauthorized route” through the strait. The vessels were not identified, and it remained unclear whether the mine strikes were linked to the explosions ashore.
Task Force Iron Gate
Washington announced Task Force Iron Gate, which will target the movement of weapons and sanctioned materials across Iran’s land borders and through the Caspian Sea. US Central Command estimates that its naval blockade has prevented more than $25 billion in Iranian crude exports since it began.
The war began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. Qatar’s prime minister said on Saturday that Doha was mediating between Washington and Tehran. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday that Tehran had sent Washington a nuclear proposal through Qatar. Iran wants its conditions met before nuclear negotiations begin, while Washington wants the nuclear issue on the agenda from the outset.
Gulf markets fell early Sunday as investors weighed the risk of fresh US strikes. Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index was down 1 percent and Qatar’s fell 1.3 percent in early trading.