Houthis hit Saudi oil site as Iran hardens Strait of Hormuz conditions

Sanaa,UPDATED: Aug 9, 2026 14:54 IST

Yemen's Houthis said on Sunday that they had attacked an oil facility in south-western Saudi Arabia, in the latest strike by the Iran-backed group on the kingdom. The development came as Iran set fresh conditions for any restart of talks with the United States and for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, while the Pentagon pressed for faster weapons production.

The developments pointed to rising tensions across the region, from renewed attacks linked to Yemen's conflict to uncertainty over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil and natural gas supplies.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group targeted an Aramco refinery in Jazan with a drone. He said the attack was in response to Saudi drones breaching Yemen's airspace over Hajjah and Saada provinces. Early on Sunday, Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry reported a fire at a facility belonging to the Aramco refinery, with no casualties. The ministry said the fire was put out, but did not say what caused it.

The strike was the latest in a series of missile and drone attacks targeting Saudi Arabia and its shipping in the Red Sea. A Yemeni government official, Fayed al-Noman, assistant undersecretary at the information ministry, also said the Houthis fired missiles and drones at Mocha port, one of the main ports under Yemen's internationally recognised government. The port has been renovated in recent years to handle shipping avoiding the Houthi-held ports in Hodeida. There was no immediate comment from the Houthis on that claim. The escalation threatens to reignite Yemen's civil war more than four years after a 2022 truce stopped major fighting.

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that an "exchange of messages through intermediaries" was continuing with the United States, but said that did not amount to negotiations. "From our perspective, negotiations cannot resume until the violations of the memorandum of understanding have ended and the United States has remedied the provisions of the memorandum that it violated," he said. He also said negotiations with Oman on "new maritime routes" through the Strait of Hormuz were "in the final stages". "This, however, does not mean that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen," Araghchi said. "An agreement on the routes may be reached, but reopening the strait is subject to a number of other conditions, which have been conveyed through intermediaries."

Iran's Supreme Security Council also said the strait would not reopen until the US "corrects its behaviour". State media published the statement by the council's secretary, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who is also a commander in the Revolutionary Guard. The statement said the US must never threaten Iran again, must permanently end the war with Iran and its armed allies in the region, lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports, withdraw its military from the area, "completely compensate" Iran for war damage, lift sanctions and "unconditionally" release frozen assets. The US had no immediate comment. Under the interim deal signed in June, a schedule to end sanctions and plan compensation would be part of a final deal, and negotiations would address frozen assets. According to US Central Command, the blockade had redirected 53 commercial vessels, disabled two and boarded two through Saturday.

Separately, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on Saturday that the department was focused on speeding up weapons purchases to provide "the weapons our warfighters need at the pace the threat demands". A new analysis by the Centre for Strategic and Studies said the war with Iran had used up more of the US military's already reduced stockpiles of advanced missile interceptors. Parnell said the push for quicker deliveries was part of a wider modernisation effort that had begun before the five-month-old conflict.

At the same time, more details emerged about a possible temporary deal between Iran and Oman on the Strait of Hormuz. Two people familiar with the talks said ships entering the strait would use a route close to Iran and leave through a route close to Oman, without fees or tolls during the interim period. The deal is meant to restore an earlier separate agreement between the US and Iran and restart a 60-day clock for negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme. The two people said the proposal had the backing of members of the Gulf Cooperation Council and, once finalised, was expected to be announced jointly by Iran, Oman, the US and the United Nations' Maritime Organization, though they said the terms could still change.

Overall, Sunday saw a fresh Houthi strike claim in Saudi Arabia, a reported attack on a key Yemeni port, tougher Iranian conditions on talks and the Strait of Hormuz, and continued US moves to strengthen weapons supplies as tensions stayed high across the region.

With PTI Inputs

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