Key takeaways:
- Iran’s armed forces chief said U.S. military ships would not be allowed into the Persian Gulf under any circumstances.
- A U.S. intelligence memo said Iranian plots to kill Americans abroad had reached advanced stages.
- The Houthis claimed an attack in Aden, while the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted missiles aimed at Taif and Yanbu.
Iran’s armed forces warned Saturday that they would not allow U.S. warships into the Persian Gulf, raising the stakes as President Donald Trump weighs renewed attacks and fighting between Yemen’s Houthis and Saudi Arabia intensifies.
“We will not allow U.S. military ships in the Persian Gulf under any circumstances and at any time,” Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, Ali Abdollahi, said, according to Iranian state television. He said Trump would “take that dream to his grave.” Al Jazeera reported that Abdollahi also asserted Iran could target U.S. vessels in the region and vowed retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.
Trump told supporters at a Florida rally Friday that the U.S. military “may do another Epic Fury,” referring to its bombing campaign at the start of the war, Al Jazeera reported. CBS News reported that Trump has said possible strikes would wait until after the November 3 U.S. midterm elections. U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, however, said Washington could “absolutely” strike as soon as this weekend, according to CBS News. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told the Financial Times the war could last another year, CBS News reported, though he hoped Iran would “come to the table” sooner.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, dismissed U.S. threats as “largely for media consumption,” CBS News reported. He told the semi-official Fars news agency that even a limited U.S. attack would draw an Iranian response “several times greater.”
The warnings come amid reported threats to Americans abroad. In a memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio obtained by CBS News, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton wrote that Iran had “substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel.” He said plots to kill Americans had reached “advanced stages” in the Middle East and certain other countries. The State Department updated travel advisories for 14 Middle Eastern countries, citing the threat of Iranian-supported Houthi aggression, CBS News reported.
The Houthis claimed Saturday that they struck a naval base and a military camp in Aden, Yemen, saying the sites were overseen by Saudi forces. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted two Houthi missiles headed toward Taif and Yanbu, a major Red Sea oil export hub. Separately, the Houthis said strikes in Yemen over Friday and Saturday killed nine people, including women and children, and blamed Saudi Arabia. The Associated Press could not independently verify some of the Houthi claims, CBS News reported, and Saudi Arabia did not respond to a request for comment.
Diplomats from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt and four European countries met in Istanbul on Friday without U.S. or Iranian representatives. “A new attack on Iran would widen the war and spread the conflict across the region,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said, according to Al Jazeera. The four regional countries backed a negotiated settlement and called for unrestricted passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
Al Jazeera reported that attacks on vessels around the strait, alongside fears of renewed fighting, helped push Brent crude to about $117 a barrel, its highest level since April.
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