Saudi Arabia issued repeated danger alerts for Riyadh and al‑Kharj overnight as fighting with Yemen’s Iran‑backed Houthis intensified, before the Saudi Civil Defence announced the threat had passed.
The Houthis said Saudi air operations carried out 26 strikes on Houthi‑held areas in the previous 24 hours and roughly 300 strikes over the past week. Yemen’s Saudi‑backed government reported its forces killed 30 Houthi fighters and wounded more than 60 in clashes in Taiz province.
Commercial vessel traffic through the Bab el‑Mandeb Strait fell to about 26‑35 ships a day during the reporting week, down from an average of 35‑40 ships a day over the preceding eight weeks, according to data from Kpler cited by CBS. Only five laden vessels carrying Saudi products exited the Red Sea via Bab el‑Mandeb in the prior seven days.
In the nearby Strait of Hormuz, two vessels were attacked on Friday; Iran claimed responsibility for striking one ship it said was attempting an illegal crossing. U.S. Central Command has redirected 105 commercial vessels traveling to or from Iranian ports, and more than 30 million barrels of Iranian‑origin crude remain stored inside the Persian Gulf.
Brent crude was priced around $104 a barrel on Friday, up from $88 three weeks earlier, reflecting the heightened risk to key shipping routes.
U.S. military spending on the conflict reached $43.6 billion through September 3, including $28.1 billion for munitions, while Pentagon figures reported 18 U.S. troops killed and over 830 wounded.
France announced plans to convene a G7 energy meeting that could consider releasing strategic reserves, and President Donald Trump signed legislation extending U.S. sanctions authority against Iran for another five years, through 2031.
