Houthis fire missiles at Saudi Arabia after airstrikes in Yemen, threaten Red Sea shipping

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Saturday said they fired missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia in retaliation for Saudi airstrikes on the strategic Red Sea port city of Hodeida, escalating tensions over vital maritime trade routes in the Middle East.

Houthi military spokesperson Brig Gen Yahya Saree said in a prerecorded statement that the attack targeted Saudi Aramco facilities in the Red Sea cities of Yanbu and Jizan.

Saudi Arabia's civil defence said warning sirens sounded multiple times early Saturday in both cities but did not provide further details. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The latest exchange comes amid heightened regional tensions involving Iran and the United States and concerns over the security of key maritime chokepoints linking the Gulf and the Red Sea.

The Houthis have threatened to block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Saudi-linked shipping in response to what they describe as the kingdom's blockade of Yemen and a recent strike on Sanaa's international airport.

"Nothing short of ending the aggression and lifting the blockade, otherwise, it's all illusion and mirage," Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthi-led Supreme Political Council, said while outlining the group's conditions for ending the threatened blockade.

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, is one of the world's busiest shipping routes, carrying about 12 per cent of global trade and roughly a quarter of global container traffic.

The Houthis earlier this week targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea. In response, the Saudi-led coalition said it carried out airstrikes in Hodeida late on Friday.

According to Houthi-run authorities, the strikes hit the port and the state-run telecommunications corporation, injuring two people. The Saudi-led coalition denied targeting the port, saying it struck "legitimate military targets" linked to threats against commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Iran also weighed in on the conflict, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi calling for diplomacy and dialogue to resolve the Yemen crisis without further military escalation.

Meanwhile, there were no reported overnight US strikes inside Iran, marking an apparent pause after nearly two weeks of consecutive attacks.

Separately, Iran accused Ukraine of attacking an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, saying one person was killed and another injured. Tehran described the incident as an act of aggression and said Ukraine's diplomatic representative had been summoned.

Iran said Araghchi had raised the issue with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and sought an international response. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv had achieved "very strong results" through long-range strikes targeting vessels allegedly involved in military cargo shipments linked to Iran.

The developments come ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned visit to Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump, as diplomatic efforts continue alongside military confrontations across the region.

The broader conflict has claimed thousands of lives. Iranian authorities say more than 3,400 people have been killed in Iran, while fighting involving Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel has left more than 4,000 people dead in Lebanon, in addition to casualties in Israel and among US forces and foreign civilians across the region.