Houthis widen Yemen conflict with Saudi missile barrage

Houthis launched dozens of missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia as Red Sea gains put oil routes under pressure, officials said.

The Saudi-led coalition said 13 civilians were wounded, the only casualty toll it released after emergency alerts in Khamis Mushait and three other southern cities. The Houthis said they targeted aircraft hangars, radar systems, runways and ammunition depots at a military airbase in Khamis Mushait in response to Saudi airstrikes in Yemen.

Perim Island tightens oil pressure

Yemeni officials said the Houthis have dug into positions along Yemen's western coast, including around Perim Island at the mouth of the Red Sea. Their advance has added strain after a Thursday aerial attack knocked Saudi Arabia's east-west pipeline offline, according to Riyadh, which blamed Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.

The 1,200-kilometer, or 745-mile, pipeline was built in the 1980s to move crude from the Gulf side of Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea and reduce exposure to the Strait of Hormuz. Traders said a prolonged outage could block as much as 4% of global oil supply if Hormuz remains largely shut, while Saudi authorities have not given a restart date.

Saudi and Yemeni aircraft have increased strikes on Houthi targets, including near Mocha, the historic Red Sea port, Yemeni government officials said. The same officials said the Houthis retained effective control over almost all of Yemen's western Red Sea coastline, limiting the immediate effect of the air campaign.

Washington resists a wider role

The renewed fighting is testing President Trump as Riyadh weighs whether to press for a broader U.S. role. Washington has so far limited itself to intelligence support, according to three people familiar with Saudi requests for direct military intervention.

Trump said over the weekend that he had spoken with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and that the Houthis had contacted Washington to urge the United States to stay out of the conflict. Saudi accounts said the crown prince met Admiral Brad Cooper, the U.S. regional commander, in Jeddah on Monday, placing the military discussion inside a wider diplomatic scramble.

Saudi Arabia has led a coalition against the Houthis since 2015, though the war had been quieter under a ceasefire in recent years. Fighting restarted this month as Houthi forces pushed back units aligned with Yemen's internationally recognized government, reversing part of the fragile stabilization that had reduced cross-border attacks.

Hormuz talks lose momentum

Diplomatic options narrowed after Oman postponed a Monday meeting with Iran and Gulf Arab states on negotiations tied to reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said the delay came at Saudi Arabia's request, while Trump repeated his view that Tehran wants a quick deal.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, rejected that message on X, writing, "No talks until Iran's conditions are met." The planned talks centered on a waterway that carried 20% of the world's oil exports before the war began on February 28, according to the accounts provided by regional officials.

Shipping risk remained disputed after conflicting accounts emerged about the Panamanian-flagged tanker El Gaia. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said sea mines hit the tanker south of Hormuz, while U.S. Central Command said that account was false and that an Iranian missile struck the vessel last month; the International Maritime Organization said the ship was damaged Saturday and two seafarers were missing.

If Saudi Arabia restores the pipeline quickly and Hormuz talks resume, the macro effect would likely center on easing the risk premium in oil rather than restoring normal trade at once. Saudi Arabia would regain a key export bypass, while tanker operators, insurers and refiners would still price in the risk of renewed missile, drone or mine incidents.

If the pipeline stays offline and Hormuz remains under Iranian pressure, traders' estimate of up to 4% of global supply at risk becomes the central market mechanism. In that case, Saudi Arabia faces tighter export flexibility, the wider energy sector faces higher shipping and insurance costs, and the main open question is whether Washington continues to avoid direct intervention.