by Jude Russo

    The State Department confirmed that one American was among the 12 reported dead from the Houthis’ Saturday strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

    The statements released after the attack Saturday and Sunday did not disclose the victim’s name.

    The Yemeni front in the wider Middle Eastern war, which has pitted the Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels against the American-aligned Saudis, has seen some of the most intense action in the region over the past week. The internationally recognized Yemeni government claimed Sunday to be advancing to retake territory on the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a chokepoint for Red Sea traffic that the Houthis seized in September.

    Meanwhile, Iran appeared to continue its campaign against tanker traffic in the Persian Gulf. The UKMTO reported that a projectile struck a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz Sunday morning.

    The ongoing operations in the Strait reflect the diplomatic deadlock between the U.S. and Iran. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told the state-affiliated Tasnim news agency Sunday that the United States’ responses to Iranian conditions for ending the war contained “ambiguities” and were considered “inadequate.”

    Despite improved flows through the Strait, the war’s strain on energy markets has only modestly decreased. AAA reported a national average price per gallon of $4.36 for regular gasoline and $6.28 for diesel.