A strike on Riyadh's airport, and now the question in Washington is whether America joins the fight against the Houthis. Here's how we got here. Iran's war with the US and Israel spread into Yemen this fall. In September, the Iran-backed Houthis seized Mocha and Dhubab near the Bab al-Mandeb strait, and in October a Saudi-backed government counteroffensive kicked off. Since then, Houthi strikes have hit airports in Aden, Abha and Riyadh. And the Houthis took al-Turbah, cutting the last main road into the besieged city of Taiz. You're on Iran War Daily. Coming up: a gas tanker in Hormuz, Lebanon's framework deal under fire again, and the one thing Trump and Tehran agree on. A calendar. But first, Riyadh. Frank Andrews, writing in CBS News:
President Trump on Saturday left open the possibility the U.S. will join Saudi Arabia's battle against the Houthis. "We may. We're gonna look at it," Mr. Trump said. Fighting between the Iranian proxy group and Saudi-backed forces in Yemen appears to be the new epicenter of the wider war.
Second strike on Riyadh's main airport in three days. At least twelve dead, three hundred and nine wounded, an American among them. Aden, then Abha, now Riyadh, and this time the airport-disruption story is a body count. That toll comes from Saudi authorities. And the sourcing's shifted. The Houthis claimed Thursday's strike on the same airport, the one that killed three Saudi citizens. Saturday's? No claim from them. It's Washington pinning it on them. Caveat noted. But Trump said no when Riyadh asked him to hit the Houthis, and now it's 'We may. We're gonna look at it.' The US is already running a blockade with eighty-one aircraft lost or damaged. Where's the bandwidth for a Yemen front? And if he does go in, Turkey and Pakistan find out what that Mecca pact actually means to them. On the record, he's committed to looking. That's it. What CBS does say plainly is that Yemen, the Houthis against Saudi-backed forces, now looks like the war's epicenter. The Oval Office hasn't decided anything yet. AAP News writes:
However, the vessel owner NVTrans says the tanker has not been attacked and it has maintained continuous direct communication with the crew. "NVTrans officially confirms that M/T NV SUNSHINE was not attacked, no fire occurred in its engine room, and the vessel and all crew members remain safe, with the vessel operating normally," the company said in a statement to AAP.
Correction time on the NV Sunshine. The Guards said they'd set that gas carrier ablaze in Hormuz, and now the owner, NVTrans, tells AAP it was never hit. No attack, no engine-room fire, crew safe, ship operating normally. So, three accounts. The IRGC, via Tasnim, claims it struck the LPG tanker on the southern route near Oman. UKMTO separately reported an incident off the UAE coast on Friday. And the owner flatly denies anything happened. AAP says it isn't even clear the UKMTO report and the Sunshine are the same ship. Doesn't matter to an underwriter. They're pricing the threat line, "any ship using an unauthorised route will be pursued," and that's aimed straight at the lane US escorts run with transponders off. CENTCOM says it had redirected 133 vessels as of October 9. Every one of them just got a target painted on it, at least on paper. Yeah, and nobody's contesting that part. Tehran may have the ship wrong, but it's been perfectly clear about which route it calls illegal. Here's ABC News:
Yet, Iranian officials remain insistent there won't be a deal until the U.S. lifts the blockade and delivers sanctions relief. Trump, meanwhile, is vacillating. He has dispatched more military resources to the region and threatened to resume strikes — even as he also declares that the U.S. “will not be attacking Iran at any time prior” to Nov. 3.
Friday night in Syracuse, Trump says Iran either gives us everything or doesn't exist any longer. Same week, same guy: no attacks on Iran before November 3rd. Put a date on a ceasefire promise and every shipping desk in the Gulf hears a countdown. Or they hear a campaign line. And that pledge is Washington's alone. Here's what Tehran's actually said, per AP: it got a US counterproposal, Araghchi said on the 8th a formal answer's coming within days, and officials insist there's no deal until the blockade's lifted and sanctions relief arrives. So, a standoff. Gas prices are why American voters hate this war, the blockade's gutting Iran's economy, and each side's waiting for the other to blink. And both swear the election has nothing to do with it. Look at the goals, though. AP traces him from unconditional surrender down to economic pressure, the nuclear program, and reopening Hormuz. That's a lot narrower than 'everything,' whatever he shouts from the podium. Anadolu Agency, with Omar Alothmani:
The Israeli army launched an airstrike and carried out artillery shelling in several areas of southern Lebanon on Saturday, in attacks that come, despite a US-brokered framework deal signed in June. Israeli warplanes struck an area between the towns of Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Kfar Tebnit in Nabatieh governorate, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported.
While everyone's staring at Riyadh, Lebanon's getting shelled. Saturday: an airstrike between Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Kfar Tebnit, artillery on Haddatha, Baraachit, Maifadoun, the Wadi al-Saluki. And there's a US-brokered framework deal from June sitting on top of all of it. The locations come from Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. And calling it a 'violation' is Anadolu's framing. I'd attribute both before treating it as a ruling on the deal. Warplanes and artillery on named towns, Sarah. I'm not sure what else the June deal was supposed to stop. Fair. What gets me is the reach. The day before, Lebanon's Health Ministry reported six wounded near Hosh al-Sayyid Ali in Hermel, way up north. Five were Syrians, two of them women. Drones over Baalbek too. Syrians who already fled one war, now wounded in another. And Washington's busy deciding whether to open a new front in Yemen while the ceasefire it brokered up north keeps fraying. If you're finding Iran War Daily useful, please subscribe or leave a review wherever you're listening. Reviews help other people find the show, and we're really glad you're here.
We'll be watching whether Trump holds to his pledge not to attack Iran before the November 3 U.S. midterm elections. Links to every story are in the show notes, so dig into whatever caught your attention. That's Iran War Daily for today. Until next time, stay informed and take care. This is a Lantern Podcast.