Al Jazeera

By Faisal Aziz Khan, Kristina Harazim, Mariamne Everett, Caolán Magee, Hala Al Shami, Leena Fraihat, Stephen Quillen, Tracy J. Jawad, Mahmoud Sayed, Enes Abuomer and Leila Minkara

    US Energy Secretary Chris Wright says oil flows are due to resume through the Saudi East-West pipeline within days after it was attacked and forced to shut down last week.

    Yemen’s Houthis say Saudi Arabia launched dozens of air attacks as the prime minister of Yemen’s internationally recognised government accuses the group of killing and displacing civilians during its rapid advance.

    Oman’s navy rescues 23 seaman from a stricken oil tanker after an attack in the Strait of Hormuz with a search ongoing for two missing crew members.

    Oil prices continue to rise as concerns over supply disruptions persist after attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure left its East-West pipeline offline and cast doubt on efforts to ease shipping risks in the Gulf.

    Iran’s security chief says the reality surrounding global energy shipments and Hormuz has changed, and there will be no talks with Washington until Tehran’s demands – as outlined in the Islamabad memorandum of understanding – are met.

Saudi-led coalition says air defences intercept, destroy Houthi drone south of Mecca

    Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen, says that Saudi Royal Air Defence Forces have intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of Mecca as it attempted to enter the holy city’s airspace.

    In a statement, al-Maliki said this was the “second” Houthi attempt to target the holy city following an attempted ballistic missile attack in 2017.

    He added that the coalition forces will not hesitate to take all necessary and deterrent measures against the Houthi rebel group.

Here’s what happened today

    We’re about to close this live page. But before we go, here’s a look at some of the latest developments:

    Several explosions were reported on Iran’s Qeshm Island, with Iranian state media saying the sounds appeared to come from the sea.

    The US Congressional Budget Office said the Iran war has depleted key US missile defences, cost $38bn and could push inflation up 0.5 percentage points in early 2027.

    US Central Command said it has redirected 103 commercial vessels as part of Washington’s blockade on Iranian maritime trade through the Strait of Hormuz.

    Some physical oil cargoes in Europe climbed above $130 a barrel after an attack shut Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline and disrupted exports from Yanbu.

    The UAE condemned recent Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, while Saudi Civil Defence activated warning systems in Jazan, Abha and Khamis Mushait.

    Yemeni government forces said they struck Houthi positions and equipment in Dhubab in Taiz governorate.

    Israeli strikes hit several areas of southern Lebanon, while an Israeli strike on tents in al-Mawasi in southern Gaza killed two people, including an eight-year-old girl.

    Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said army and Shin Bet forces killed the Hamas Rafah Brigade commander.

    EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Gaza has a ceasefire “in name only”, with people still being killed and wounded.

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    The report shows footage of destroyed vehicles and combat, alongside aerial thermal imagery of retaliatory strikes by the Saudi-backed coalition.

    Both sides claim military gains as fighting continues to spread.

Iran attempting to ‘freeze out’ US from potential post-war arrangement for the Middle East

    Tehran is trying, politically, to regionalise the war in Yemen in a bid to “freeze out” the United States from any post-war arrangement, Ross Harrison, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Al Jazeera.

    He said there was a “coalescence” of a Houthi strategy and Iranian strategy unfolding, with “the Iranians on the Strait of Hormuz side and the Houthis on the Strait of Bab al-Mandeb”.

    “Whether there’s coordination, we really don’t know,” he said.

    But he said the Houthis have created leverage by capturing areas close to the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

    “Originally, the conflict was about kinetic military activity towards the Gulf Arab states. And now what they’re [Iran] doing is connecting the two straits … in terms of the ability to put pressure on the global community, and certainly the United States,” he said.

    “And they’re trying to … basically to create, not necessarily isolate the United States, but to regionalise the conflict politically so that they sort of shut out or freeze out the United States from any kind of post-war arrangement,” he said.

    Harrison said he believed for Iran and the US to return to the negotiating table, both sides would have to believe they have more to achieve there than on the battlefield.

    “Even if the United States right now is willing to negotiate … we’re not sure the Iranians are going to play ball at this juncture,” he said.

Vance says Iran war to enter ‘much different phase’ in coming months

    US Vice President JD Vance says the war with Iran will enter a “much different phase in a couple of months”, describing Washington’s next objective as preventing Tehran from rebuilding its military capabilities.

    “We can’t predict the future, but I think the president is right to say that this thing will enter a much different phase in a couple of months,” Vance told the New York Post in an interview.

    Vance said the US considered the first phase of the conflict complete, describing its objectives as destroying Iran’s nuclear programme, conventional military and ability to project power.

    “And then the second phase of this is ensure that they’re not able to rebuild and try to maintain as much global stability in the wake of that,” he said.

    Vance also said Iran was still occasionally targeting commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

US accuses Iran of violating UN resolutions with Houthi support

    The United States has accused Iran of violating United Nations Security Council resolutions by arming, funding and directing Yemen’s Houthis.

    Speaking at a Security Council meeting on Yemen, a US diplomat to the UN, Jennifer Locetta, said Washington was calling for the implementation of resolutions 2140 and 2216 including measures aimed at stopping the flow of weapons, technical assistance, training and financing to the group.

    “The Iranian regime is the principal violator of both resolutions,” Locetta said, alleging that Tehran had defied the arms embargo under Resolution 2216 and undermined the sanctions regime under Resolution 2140.

    The US representative also said Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi cities on Monday and Tuesday wounded 13 civilians, and that a September 8 attack wounded more than 70 people including women and children.

    Washington further accused the Houthis of threatening regional and global energy security through attacks on tankers and port infrastructure. The US called on the group to halt its advances, withdraw from territory it has seized and stop attacks.

    The comments came as fighting intensified in Yemen and Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia reportedly wounded 13 civilians on Monday.

Yemeni government forces claim attacks on Houthi positions in Dhubab

    A Yemeni military spokesman says government forces have struck Houthi positions and equipment in Taiz governorate.

    In a post on X, Majid Abdullah al-Nuzailim provided video footage of what he claimed were government forces targeting the Houthis in the coastal town of Dhubab off the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Several explosions heard on Iran’s Qeshm Island: state media

    Several explosions were heard on Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, according to local sources cited by IRNA, the Iranian state news agency.

    The sounds seemed to come from the sea, IRNA said, adding that no official sources had commented on the source of the reported explosions.

Strait of Hormuz, other strategic waterways should not be ‘bargaining chips’: analyst

    Mohammed al-Hashemi, director of the Doha-based Middle East Insights Institute, said straits and other strategic waterways should not be used as bargaining chips in international conflicts.

    “Passages can be protected, first, by removing them from the bargaining table and not accepting those geographical areas, or even civilian facilities, as bargaining chips,” al-Hashemi told Al Jazeera.

    Meanwhile, the shutdown of the East-West pipeline in Saudi Arabia following an attack threatens up to 5 percent of the global oil supply.

    “At the moment, reopening [the East-West pipeline] becomes a concession, which means that closure would be used as a strategy, and this is something that shouldn’t be accepted in general,” al-Hashemi said.

    The US cannot win its war on Iran by force, al-Hashemi added, predicting the conflict will end at the negotiating table.

    “Today, as we can see in the case of Hormuz, nation-states start to utilise [strategic waterways] as a bargaining chip. Bab al-Mandeb is a bit different; it’s a proxy, but tomorrow we might even see that somewhere in the world terrorist groups are going to use it, and non-state actors will be using them.”

Congressional Budget Office says Iran war has severely depleted US missile interceptors

    The United States has used between half and two-thirds of its inventory of several key missile-defence interceptors amid operations in the Middle East, with the war on Iran accelerating the depletion, Reuters reports, citing the Congressional Budget Office.

    The estimate covers Patriot, THAAD, SM-3 and SM-6 interceptors. The federal agency said rebuilding those stockpiles could take at least five years, even if production rates increase.

    According to Reuters, the office estimated that replacing missile-defence interceptors would cost about $13.1bn, part of a wider $21.7bn bill for replenishing munitions. Another $7.3bn would be needed to replace land-attack cruise missiles.

    The Congressional Budget Office, which provides cost analyses for US lawmakers, said the depletion leaves fewer interceptors available for a potential future conflict. Reuters noted that the calculation is an estimate because the Defence Department does not publicly disclose the size of its interceptor inventories.

UAE condemns Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia

    The United Arab Emirates has condemned recent Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, saying it stands in solidarity with its neighbour even as the two Gulf Arab powers have feuded over regional issues including Yemen.

    In a statement, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced “in the strongest terms” the attacks in the south of the country, which it said targeted civilians. The UAE said in supporting Saudi Arabia, it backs “all measures aimed at safeguarding its security and stability”.

As Iran’s foreign minister travels to Beijing, will China emerge as peacemaker

By Maziar Motamedi

    Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday, his second visit to the Chinese capital since the US-Israeli war on Iran began at the end of February.

    The trip comes shortly ahead of a planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington later in September.

    China has presented itself as a neutral party seeking an end to the conflict.

    Analysts have pointed out that while China wants to see an end to a war that has brought tumult to financial and energy markets, it has traditionally avoided entangling itself in foreign conflicts and potentially failed diplomatic initiatives.

Israeli Defence Minister Katz says Israeli forces killed Hamas commander

    Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz says that army and Shin Bet forces killed the Hamas Rafah brigade commander.

    Katz claimed in a social media post that the Hamas commander was plotting attacks against Israeli forces.

Israeli air strikes hit several areas in south Lebanon: state media

    Israeli forces have carried out air strikes in at least three areas in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported.

    Two waves of air strikes targeted the Ain al-Samahiyah district near Mayfadoun, the agency reported. Israeli strikes also hit the Wadi Zibqin area in the Tyre region as well as the Marjayoun area.

US military says 103 commercial ships redirected in Iran blockade

    US Central Command says it has redirected 103 commercial vessels in its blockade of Iran to date.

    In a social media post, CENTCOM said it is ensuring compliance with the US blockade on Iranian maritime trade in the Strait of Hormuz.

    The updated tally from the US military added four vessels since its last update on Friday.

Saudi export disruptions drive some physical oil cargoes above $130 a barrel

    Prices for some physical oil cargoes in Europe have topped $130 a barrel, as tensions in the Middle East fester and a key Saudi pipeline remains offline since an attack last week, according to trade sources cited by Reuters, approaching record highs seen in April.

    Saudi Arabia has suspended late-September cargo shipments to European buyers after an attack on its East-West Pipeline last week forced it to cancel loadings from the Red Sea port of Yanbu.

    North Sea oil is being viewed as a potential alternative to Saudi crude, but according to LSEG data, North Sea Forties crude has jumped to $136.75 a barrel, nearing an all-time high from April, at the height of the US-Israel war on Iran.

Republican congressman files articles of impeachment against Hegseth over Iran, Yemen and boat strikes

    Outgoing US Representative Thomas Massie has filed eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary ⁠Pete Hegseth for alleged “high crimes and misdemeanors” related to his management of various conflicts including Iran.

    Massie’s assertions, which he read aloud in the House of Representatives, accuse Hegseth of waging war against Iran without Congressional authorisation, failing to minimise civilian casualties in strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, and executing illegal orders in Yemen.

    The impeachment resolution is ⁠unlikely to pass in the Republican-controlled House, but could force a vote requiring some Republicans up for reelection in November to weigh in on the controversial defense secretary.

    Massie, a rare Republican critic of Trump, the war against Iran and US assistance to Israel, is due to leave Congress after he lost his primary in May to a candidate who received millions of dollars from pro-Trump and pro-Israel lobby groups.

Israeli strike on tents in southern Gaza kills two, including child

    An Israeli strike on tents in al-Mawasi, southern Gaza, killed two people, including an eight-year-old girl named Amal Yasser Omar, Al Jazeera correspondents report.

    At least 14 others were wounded in the attack, they added.

EU top diplomat says discussions ongoing for further sanctions against Israeli settlers

    European Union foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas says the European Council is continuing to discuss further sanctions against Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

    In a statement to the EU parliament, Kallas said that “on top of the three packages of sanctions against extremist settlers, discussions are now ongoing in the Council on possible further designations. Accountability is a prerequisite for reining in violent settlers.”

    Kallas said that settlement expansion is increasing in the West Bank, along with more forced displacements and record levels of settler violence.

    The EU’s top diplomat also addressed the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, saying that “there is a ceasefire in name only. People are still being killed and wounded.”