US, Iran Hold Their Fire, but Allies Launch Strikes

A rare pause in direct US-Iran clashes arrived Saturday, but the broader conflict kept rippling across the region's waterways. While Washington and Tehran reported no new strikes—"Iran had a peaceful night," an Iranian spokesperson posted—Ukraine said it hit an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea that was moving military supplies to Russia. Iran confirmed the vessel was its own and said one crew member was killed and another injured. The Caspian route has long been viewed by Western officials as a secure corridor for Iranian arms, the New York Times reports. In the Red Sea, Saudi-led forces said they struck Houthi positions in Yemen, while the Iran-aligned group claimed it launched rockets and drones at Saudi energy sites on the coast.

Video verified by the Times showed smoke near a Saudi Aramco refinery in Jazan, though Riyadh offered no public details. The Houthis have also announced a blockade on Saudi shipping, squeezing oil markets already unsettled by Iranian moves to choke off the Strait of Hormuz. A spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard said any nation that sides with the US would become a legitimate ?target for Iran, per the Guardian. He singled out the UK, saying that US ?bombers ‌had recently ?used ?British airfields. US Central Command said its forces were still enforcing the naval blockade on Saturday, which included boarding a tanker in the Arabian Sea before allowing it to continue.