Live Updates: Iran's Houthi allies kill 3 in strike on Saudi airport as Trump rules out pre-midterms strikes

Multiple airlines have suspended flights to Saudi Arabia's capital after strikes claimed by the Iran-backed Houthis hit Riyadh's main airport this week, including a missile attack that killed three civilians Thursday.

Lufthansa, Air India, Pakistan International Airlines, FlyDubai, Etihad Airways, Emirates and Air Arabia are among the airlines that have suspended flights to Riyadh. 

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency on Friday advised against airlines operating in some parts of Saudi airspace, saying in an updated bulletin that "recent attacks have demonstrated the ability and intent of the Houthis to strike targets deeper inside Saudi territory."

Tehran's ambassador to the Vatican, Mohammad Hossein Mokhtari, urged Pope Leo XIV to use his moral and diplomatic influence to oppose U.S. sanctions and air restrictions on Iran that he says threaten ordinary people's access to medical treatment, education, family and religious pilgrimage.

In a letter addressed to the leader of the Catholic Church on Thursday, Mokhtari called for a public defence of humanitarian air routes and urged the Pontiff to press Washington to assess the human consequences of its policies.

The letter comes amid renewed U.S. sanctions against Iran and restrictions targeting Iranian airlines. Washington imposed new sanctions on 27 Iranian airlines in September, threatening measures against airports and companies worldwide that provide services to them. Tehran has condemned the measures as "economic terrorism."

"When decisions by the unwise and inhumane U.S. president lead to sweeping air restrictions and make people's travel more difficult, the issue is no longer merely about flight routes or political relations," Mokhtari wrote.

Saudi national carrier Saudia Airlines announced the death of aircraft captain Hamoud bin Ali Al-Kalthami Friday following a strike on the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh thye previous day.

Saudi authorities have not said who carried out the Thursday attack on the airport, which killed two other civilians in addition to Al-Kalthami, but the Iran-backed Houthis claimed they targeted the airport on the same day, as they have previously this week.

In a statement, the airline paid tribute to the slain captain's professional service, saying it remembered "with appreciation and pride what the deceased contributed throughout his professional career in serving the national carrier, and the good reputation he left among his colleagues."

The airline extended its condolences to his family, relatives and colleagues.

Pakistan has a "substantial number of forces" deployed in Saudi Arabia in a defensive capacity, Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman said Friday.

"From Pakistan already we have substantial number of forces as well as resources in town, in Riyadh," spokesman Sajjad Haider Khan told journalists, according to the French news agency AFP, without specifying whether the deployment had grown under a major defense pact that Pakistan signed this year with Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

He added that Pakistani military personnel in the kingdom "would not be crossing the borders of the other side for an attack on the Houthis, but of course [they are acting] in the defense of the territory."

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis have launched barrages of missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia this week, including attacks on Riyadh's international airport Thursday that killed three people.

Pakistan signed the defense agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkey in August, committing the three countries to come to each other's aid in the event one is attacked.

Khan declined to say whether additional Pakistani forces had arrived in Saudi Arabia since the kingdom's fight with the Houthis intensified in recent weeks, saying that "how much and when and where" forces would be deployed would be up to the trilateral alliance, which is headquartered in Riyadh with a retired Pakistani general as its secretary general.

Khan noted that Pakistan's forces had been deployed in Saudi Arabia regularly since the 1980s, including after the signing of a bilateral agreement between Islamabad and Riyadh in 2025.

CBS/AP

Three Saudi citizens were killed and several other people "of different nationalities" were wounded in attacks targeting Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport and a Saudia Airlines aircraft, the kingdom's civil aviation authority said Friday.

Thursday's attack was the deadliest in Saudi Arabia since the kingdom and allied forces in neighboring Yemen launched a major military offensive last weekend aimed at retaking territory seized by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

It was a significant escalation in what appears to be the new epicenter of the wider war in the Middle East sparked by the joint U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran in late February.

The first attack Thursday afternoon targeted airport facilities, while the second struck the aircraft, which was empty at the time, the Saudi statement said. It did not identify those responsible, though the Houthis have claimed to target the airport repeatedly this week with ballistic missiles, including on Thursday.

Among the dead was Capt. Hamoud Ali Alkalthami, the Saudia Group said in a statement seen by the Associated Press. It appeared to be the first confirmed attack on the Saudi national carrier since the new offensive against the Houthis began.

The Saudi aviation agency, GACA, said in its statement that injuries to citizens and people of other nationalities "ranged from minor to serious." 

The Houthis this week warned global airlines "for the last time" about the potential consequences of operating in Saudi airspace, which they have declared a theater for military operations.

On Wednesday, Saudi officials said attacks on the Riyadh and Abha airports claimed by the Houthis had killed three people.

CBS/AP

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Thursday that Iran had revised its proposals for negotiations with the United States and was ready to finalize them through intermediaries.

"We have made our revisions to these proposals. Once they are finalized, we are supposed to sit down through the mediators and consolidate them," Pezeshkian said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He said Iran had put forward proposals, and the U.S. had also presented new ones, but he accused Washington of repeatedly scuppering diplomatic efforts.

"Every time we hold talks with the U.S., they attack again," Pezeshkian said.

Addressing Putin, Pezeshkian thanked Russia for its positions on regional issues, including at the United Nations.

"Our efforts are aimed at ending the war and ensuring that the rights of the Iranian people are respected within the framework of international law," Pezeshkian said. "But if the United States seeks to proceed through unilateralism, it will not be possible."

The USS Abraham Lincoln and its more than 4,500 sailors returned home to San Diego on Thursday for the first time in 321 days, a jubilant homecoming after a long deployment that included months in the Middle East.

Braving the heat, hundreds of family members and friends waited for hours in the sun to greet their loved ones. As the ship pulled into the harbor, a roar of cheers erupted from a pier. Sailors stood at attention on the deck for the aircraft carrier's long approach, and after they were released, smiles and waves broke out as sailors took out their phones to call people on the pier.

In one such reunion, McKenzie Adkins held her 10-week-old son Declan as she waved to her husband, Alexander, on the ship's deck, before the new father met his son for the first time.

The Lincoln carrier strike group had been deployed for more than 10 months, including more than 250 uninterrupted days at sea this year. Much of that time was spent in the Middle East, where the aircraft carrier and its escort ships supported the U.S. war against Iran. It left the region in late August. 

Read more here. 

The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia is warning Americans to "exercise heightened vigilance" if they are traveling through King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh due to attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militant group.

"The Houthis have engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including against civilian airports, and the military conflict has the potential to escalate," the embassy wrote on X. "U.S. citizens should be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions."

The Houthis have launched attacks on the airport, hundreds of miles into interior Saudi Arabia, four times this week. Three people were killed at airports on Oct. 6 and 7 in Saudi Arabia, including one at King Khalid International Airport, according to the country's aviation authority.

The embassy had already warned citizens not to travel near the Yemeni border. U.S. government employees are banned from traveling within 20 miles of the border. On Thursday, the embassy also said government officials now require special authorization to travel through King Khalid International Airport.

President Trump has promised the U.S. would not attack Iran before the midterm elections, which take place on Nov. 3. He also touted "productive conversations" with Iran, though he did not provide specifics.

"I want to make it clear to everybody that, while Iran is in very bad condition, both Economically and Militarily, and while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, with Oil flowing in Record Numbers of Barrels through the Hormuz Strait (22 Million Barrels, last night alone, with not one barrel coming from, or going to, Iran!), we will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd," he wrote on Truth Social.

Several outlets reported on Thursday that Mr. Trump was considering new strikes on Iran before the midterms.

The Trump administration has consistently provided numbers for the millions of barrels being escorted out of the Strait of Hormuz under U.S. military protection. Moving out 22 million barrels of oil in one night would mark a total similar to prewar levels. 

Brent crude, the international standard, was up to $105 a barrel, about a 4% increase from close Wednesday, before Mr. Trump's post on social media. After the post, it dropped to $103 a barrel.