Live Updates: Diesel hits record $6 a gallon as, reports say, Iran-backed Houthis take key Red Sea territory

Saudi authorities shut the East-West oil pipeline in the Riyadh and Medina areas after it came under attack, injuring a number of people, an energy ministry official told state media on Friday.

"The East-West pipeline in the Riyadh and Medina regions was subjected to several attacks on Thursday morning," the official told the SPA news agency, adding, "The pipeline was stopped as a precaution, and the attacks resulted in some injuries." 

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry later said in a statement that the pipeline was targeted by several drones launched from Iraq "which caused human injuries and damage."

While Saudi authorities did not attribute blame for the attack, multiple reports indicate the Iran-backed Houthis targeted the vital crude oil pipeline.

The pipeline, which is 750 miles long, transports crude from the Abqaiq oil fields in the Eastern Province to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. It transports about 5 to 7 million barrels of oil per day. By comparison, about 20 million barrels of oil per day were taken out through the Strait of Hormuz before the war.

The East-West pipeline has become a critical way for Saudi oil to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz by instead transporting it through the Suez Canal or Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The pipeline was actually built in the 1980s, during the Iran-Iraq war, to do the same thing as today: avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

Now, however, the success of the Houthis in capturing portions of the western coast of Yemen has opened up Saudi oil tankers to greater risk of attack in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

CBS/AFP

U.S. stocks are rebounding Friday and clawing back much of their losses for the week after oil prices eased off their recent spurt. 

An update on inflation across the United States that came in close to economists' expectations, even if prices are still rising too quickly for everyone's liking, also helped calm the market.

The markets got help from a pullback in oil prices, which had jumped to their highest levels since May because of the ongoing war with Iran. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell under $105 after getting near $110 overnight.

That took a bit of pressure off inflation, which remains stubbornly high. A report on Friday showed that U.S. consumers had to pay prices for gasoline, food and other costs of living that were 3.4% higher last month than a year earlier.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi continued his campaign of taunts against U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday.

Bessent has earned growing ire from Tehran after the U.S. announced stiff sanctions it likened to "economic D-Day."

"The U.S. Treasury Secretary has been gleefully boasting about wanting to impoverish Iranians and collapse our economy," Araghchi wrote on X. "Instead, he stands powerless and exposed as the world loses belief in the U.S. financial system."

"Meltdown over cost of funding U.S. debt is only the beginning," he added.

Araghchi posted a graph of skyrocketing 30-year government bond yields along with his criticism. The yields hit their highest level since 2004 on Friday even as Bessent said his agency would buy $6 billion in long-term bonds earlier this week in a bid to allay concerns. Higher Treasury yields raise borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian separately in New Delhi on Friday as the countries seek to strengthen ties before a weekend summit of the BRICS nations.

BRICS, chaired by India this year, is a grouping of major emerging markets and developing countries. The group's acronym comes from the names of its founding members in 2006, Brazil, Russia, India, China, as well as South Africa, which joined soon after. It has expanded to include 11 member countries representing about half the world's population.

Modi thanked Pezeshkian for Iran's high-level participation in BRICS, "despite the challenging circumstances," the ministry's separate statement said, referring to the Iran war. The statement also said both leaders discussed bilateral ties.

Despite India's deepening partnerships with Israel and the Gulf Arab states, New Delhi has steadily maintained its ties with Iran.

India's relationship with Iran remains constrained by geopolitics, with New Delhi balancing its strategic interests against strong Western pressure. Severe U.S. sanctions and secondary penalties on businesses trading with Iran have forced India to stop direct crude oil imports and made banking transactions more difficult.

Iran's foreign ministry said the country would meet with Gulf states in Oman on Monday to discuss the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which the Islamic republic has blockaded during the war.

"This meeting is intended to promote better understanding among the countries of the region and help strengthen shared regional security," the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

"Iraq and other littoral Persian Gulf states" will participate, it added.

More than six months into the war, the battle over control of the strait continues to drive up oil prices, which soared past $105 a barrel this week.

Oman and Iran, which both border the Strait of Hormuz, have been discussing for several weeks how the crucial waterway will be managed in the future.

The strait was free to transit before the war, but Iran now requires vessels to obtain permission and is considering a mechanism to impose service fees.

Ships that do not comply are regularly targeted by Iranian drone or missile strikes, while the United States periodically bombs the Iranian coastline to challenge the Islamic republic's control of the strait.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has personally pressed President Trump to take military action against the Iran-backed Houthis as Houthi forces have advanced rapidly along Yemen's Red Sea coast, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News, adding Mr. Trump and the crown prince have spoken multiple times in recent days about the escalating situation.

Despite bin Salman's urging, Mr. Trump has so far declined to involve the U.S. military directly, offering instead to assist with intelligence and targeting support, according to the sources, who were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks.

Adm. Bradley Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, was in Saudi Arabia for coordination talks on Friday, one source said. A CENTCOM spokesperson declined to comment on his whereabouts. 

The Saudi push is part of an effort to build a coalition against the Houthis and protect the kingdom against potential Iranian retaliation, one of the people familiar with the situation said, noting the concern is if the Houthis are attacked, Iran could retaliate against Saudi Arabia.

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In recent weeks, the United States has succeeded in loosening Iran's grip over the Strait of Hormuz while virtually shutting down Iran's own oil exports, accelerating its economic free fall.

But the war launched by the U.S. and Israel in February — intended to last a few weeks — is still far from over, and the stalemate is costly for both sides. An agreement reached in June quickly crumbled, with no sign of diplomatic progress since then. Low-level fighting persists, and the U.S. does not seem to have an exit strategy.

The mounting economic pressure on Iran has yet to stoke an uprising, and if its leaders are backed into a corner, they may opt for military escalation rather than capitulation. Their Houthi allies in Yemen have meanwhile stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia, helping to push oil prices back up.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international benchmark, surged above $105 this week, and diesel — heavily used in transport and farming — hit a record, potentially stoking inflation. U.S. President Donald Trump has acknowledged that gas prices are likely to stay high through the midterm congressional elections.

"Unfortunately, the U.S. is not winning in the war with Iran despite its limited success in loosening Iran's grip over the strait and the devastating impact on Iran's economy," said Mona Yacoubian, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"Iran shows no sign of backing down, and instead has demonstrated a willingness to not only fight back, but escalate wherever it can. The war is likely to be protracted with no clear victor."

Yemen's Houthis on Friday seized Greater and Lesser Hanish, the last two islands that were not under their control in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a military official in the internationally recognized Yemeni government told the AFP news agency.

"Everything that was under our control on the western coast has fallen," the official said, hours after the Houthis seized control of the strategic Mayun Island, which is also known as Perim, part of its campaign to consolidate its control over the vital shipping corridor.

CBS/AFP

After recognizing the heroes of 9/11 at the Pentagon ceremony on Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth brought up the Iran war, saying the U.S. is raising up a new generation to fight.

"Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism," Hegseth said. "Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that have wished us death for nearly half a century, that cheered on 9/11. A regime that has sponsored terrorist attacks against Americans for decades, killing thousands, including our comrades in Iraq and Afghanistan. But they did not factor in this president."

"We're still sending terrorists where they belong, to hell, and tankers to the bottom of the ocean, where they belong," he continued. "And we're ensuring Iran will never have a nuclear weapon."

Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthis said Friday they had launched a large-scale military operation against Saudi-backed forces along the country's western coast, claiming to have driven them from six districts covering more than 2,000 square miles.

In a televised statement, the group's military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, said the operation, dubbed "Allah Is Stronger in Might and Stronger in Inflicting Punishment," began Sept. 3 across several fronts.

Saree said the operation was aimed at expelling Saudi-backed forces from parts of the western coast and claimed the objective had been achieved despite heavy Saudi air support.

The operation resulted in "the expulsion of the Saudi enemy's forces from six districts in the governorates of Taiz and Hodeidah, with a total area of 5,400 square kilometers (2,000 square miles), which, thanks to Allah, have become safe and stable," Saree said.

He said Houthi forces had also struck seven military divisions comprising 38 brigades, claiming that "hundreds" of Saudi personnel had been killed, captured or wounded.

Saree claimed that Houthi forces had freed prisoners who had been held by Saudi-backed forces along the western coast "for years."

Turning to maritime traffic, Saree said navigation remained safe for all commercial vessels except Saudi ships, which he said were already subject to a ban.

"The Yemeni armed forces affirm that maritime navigation is safe for all companies except Saudi ships, which were previously declared subject to the ban," Saree said. He didn't mention where specifically, but was likely referring to the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

He said the Houthis would continue what they called "the equation of blockade for blockade," including attacks on Saudi-backed forces and further escalation, until what they described as the aggression against Yemen ends and the blockade on the country is lifted.

Six missiles on Friday struck the port in Yemen's strategic Red Sea city of Mokha, now under Houthi control, a local official told the AFP news agency, without specifying where they came from.

"Six missiles targeted the Mokha port," the Yemeni government official said.

Earlier on Friday, media for the Iranian-backed Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of launching two strikes on the airport in Mokha, which the Houthis seized on Thursday in a large-scale offensive against Riyadh-backed Yemeni government forces, according to multiple reports.

The Reuters and Associated Press news agencies also reported that the Houthis took the strategic island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Friday.

CBS/AFP

An adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei called the advance in Yemen by Tehran-backed Houthi fighters a "resounding victory" on Friday, after they seized a key island in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait, according to The Associated Press, Reuters and AFP news agencies.

"Congratulations on this resounding victory, Ansar Allah," Mohammad Mokhber wrote on X, referring to the Houthis by their formal name.

Iran's Vice President Mohamed Aref also congratulated the Houthis on X, writing that Iran is "delighted with the victories of the heroic Yemeni people."

CBS/AFP

A group in Yemen attempted to use Anthropic's Claude chatbot to build guided rockets and missiles, the U.S. firm has revealed, as Iran-backed Houthi rebels are on the offensive in the country.

In a report published Thursday on how it had prevented illegal uses of Claude in several countries, Anthropic said it had "identified a cell of threat actors based in northern Yemen running three weapons development programs," without specifying who they were.

Those were "a guided rocket that used a commodity phone-class flight computer with final-phase homing guidance; a multi-stage ballistic missile with a stated range goal above 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles); and a multi-variant missile ... that included a hypersonic glide vehicle variant," the report says.

The cell used Claude to develop guidance, navigation and control software for the airborne weapons that would have otherwise required a team of engineers.

"We do not have evidence the actors succeeded in fielding an operational device; but they did test-fire a guided rocket," Anthropic said.

"This field test appears to have failed: within hours, the actors returned to Claude to work out why it failed."

Anthropic said it had banned the relevant accounts as soon as it had detected the illegal activity.  

While the company did not identify the actors in question, it is likely to involve the Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.

The revelation comes at a time when the Iranian-backed militants have launched a wide-ranging offensive across the country toward the strategic Bab el-Mandeb strait, which connects Europe to Asia, seizing key Red Sea territory, according to The Associated Press, Reuters and AFP news agencies.

On Friday, the Houthis claimed control of a Red Sea island in the middle of the Bab el-Mandeb shipping lane, completing their push to control the area.

CBS/AFP

A member of the Houthis' politburo on Friday sought to allay global fears for international shipping through the crucial Bab el-Mandeb waterway after fighters from the Iranian-backed group completed their takeover of the area.

"Freedom of navigation and international trade in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb are safe and orderly," Hazem al-Assad told the Al-Araby al-Jadeed news outlet. "There is no cause for international concern, as they face no danger from the Yemeni side."

CBS/AFP

Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels captured a strategic island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the entrance of the Red Sea, two officials told The Associated Press news agency Friday, in a swift advance that further threatens Saudi oil exports through one of the world's key commercial lanes.

Saudi Arabia responded with airstrikes against the airport in the key port city of Mokha that the Houthis seized on Thursday, a Houthi broadcaster said. There were no immediate reports of damage or deaths.

The capture of Mayun, a tiny, barren volcanic island in the strait, was confirmed by a senior military official with Yemen's internationally recognized government and by a Houthi official. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

Four Yemeni government sources made the same assertion to the Reuters news agency on Friday.

The island, also known as Perim, is about 2 miles off Yemen's west coast.

The Houthi rebels launched a major offensive against Saudi-backed government forces last week, killing hundreds. 

Saudi Arabia has hit Houthi forces with dozens of retaliatory airstrikes in recent days.

CBS/AP

President Trump rejected pleas from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to strike the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, news website Axios reported Thursday. 

The Houthi rebels launched a major offensive against Saudi-backed government forces last week, killing hundreds. Several outlets quoted sources Thursday as saying they had taken the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha. 

Saudi Arabia has hit Houthi forces with dozens of airstrikes in recent days, with the latest hitting an airport in the strategic port city of Mokha, Houthi media reported Friday.

Citing two anonymous U.S. officials, Axios reported that the crown prince called Mr. Trump twice on Thursday – in the first call warning him about the deteriorating military situation in Yemen, and in the second urging him to strike the Houthis. 

The president declined, but Washington will provide the Saudis with intelligence and targeting data on the Houthis, a U.S. official told Axios, while more than 200 U.S. military personnel are already in Saudi Arabia providing "non-kinetic support."

Houthi control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which separates the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and is a vital global energy chokepoint, would be a major point of leverage for their allies Iran. 

Control of Mokha would make it easier for the Houthis to target Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, which they have been doing for weeks.

Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes since fighting escalated in Yemen last week, the United Nations said Friday, with the number more than doubling in a matter of days.

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who have for years controlled large parts of northern Yemen, launched a large-scale offensive last week against Saudi-backed government forces, scoring one victory after another in fighting that has left hundreds dead.

Since the fighting escalated, "at least 46,000 people have been displaced," the International Organization for Migration said in a statement, warning that "the number is alarmingly rising by the hour."

On Tuesday, the U.N. agency had put the number at around 18,500.

The announcement came after the Houthis seized control of the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha on Thursday, according to sources speaking to the AFP, Associated Press and Reuters news agencies, before seizing a key island in the middle of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Friday.

Saudi Arabia responded with dozens of airstrikes, with the latest two hitting the Mokha airport, Houthi media reported on Friday.

The displacements had happened across the west coast and Taiz areas, the IOM said, also pointing to reports of large numbers of people seen leaving Mokha with their belongings overnight to Friday.

The agency said people also seemed to be moving north.

"Entire villages are reported to have emptied" to the west of Taiz, it said, adding that the Mokha-Taiz road, a key supply route, had reportedly been cut.

IOM chief Amy Pope warned that "as fighting spreads, reaching people with lifesaving assistance is becoming harder."

"We urgently need safe, unimpeded access," she said in the statement.

"All parties must protect civilians and humanitarian workers, and safeguard the supplies, vehicles and facilities we depend on to deliver help."

CBS/AFP

Saudi airstrikes hit the rebel-held Mokha airport in Yemen on Friday, an Iranian-backed Houthi broadcaster reported, a day after the Houthis entered the key port city on the Red Sea, bringing them closer to the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Their advance further threatens commercial shipping on an important alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

Earlier Friday, Iran's government called for an end to Saudi Arabia's blockade of Yemen, throwing its support behind its ally, the Houthis. In its first statement since the rebels entered the port, Iran's Foreign Ministry also called for a return to negotiations between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis.

The rebels' capture of Mokha, overlooking tanker routes out of the Red Sea, could boost Iran's strategy of driving up world oil and gas prices to pressure the United States, experts say. It also raises concerns of a new front opening after more than six months of war in the region - one in which Saudi Arabia is forced to respond.

Experts say the developments in Yemen could give Tehran more leverage in any negotiations with the United States. On Wednesday, the spokesperson for Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard called for any negotiated settlement with the U.S. to include Yemen, the first explicit reference to that front.

Iran's government on Friday called for an end to Saudi Arabia's blockade of Yemen and the immediate resumption of talks, in its first public statement since Iran-backed Houthi rebels entered a key Yemeni port – according to sources speaking to the AP, AFP and Reuters news agencies – and intensified their threat to a key global shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

In a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, Iran's foreign ministry said Yemen's sovereignty must be respected and its problems cannot be resolved through a blockade or military alliances.

Iran also said it was ready to help support negotiations. Meanwhile, experts say the developments in Yemen could give Tehran more leverage in any negotiations with the United States after over six months of war.

The Houthis' entry into the Red Sea port of Mokha on Thursday brings them within 50 miles of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, an important alternative for global shipping as Iran targets vessels on the Strait of Hormuz. It's the rebels' biggest territorial gain in years.

CBS/AP

Yemen's special envoy to the United Nations called on support from the international community after the Iran-backed Houthi militant group seized control of the Red Sea port city of Mokha.

"This renewed war should alarm us all," Hans Grundberg, the U.N. special envoy for Yemen, warned at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.

"It effectively marks the end of the relative calm that Yemen has experienced for over four years since the U.N.-brokered truce," Grundberg said.

He called on the international community to address this "new and more dangerous phase – one whose consequences, if left unchecked, will not stay within Yemen's borders."

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have entered Yemen's strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha, two local residents told The Associated Press on Thursday.

A Yemeni military source told the AFP news agency earlier on Thursday that the Houthis had taken the city. Four government military sources made the same assertion to the Reuters news agency.

Yemen's U.N. Ambassador Abdullah Al-Saadi said a single Yemen state with a monopoly on weapons that has sovereignty throughout the country, which the government is seeking, is "a fundamental guarantee" for security for Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the region.

He called on the Security Council to condemn the Houthis' military escalation and to implement measures "prohibiting the supply of arms, components, technology, and military expertise to the militia" which are fueling the conflict.

Saudi U.N. Ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil said that the kingdom remains supportive of peace in Yemen but that it would "take all measures necessary to deter Houthi attacks."

Alwasil warned that "the kingdom's commitment to de-escalation and to supporting a political solution must not be allowed to become an opportunity that this militia exploits to continue its attacks and to threaten the security of the kingdom and the region."

CBS/AP

Diesel prices in the U.S. have passed a painful new milestone for the transportation industry: $6 a gallon, a surge experts said is likely to have ripple effects for consumers as businesses pass on their higher energy costs.

The national average for a gallon of diesel rose to a record $6.05 on Friday, up more than 60% from $3.71 a year ago, according to data from AAA. Diesel is widely used in trucking and rail, affecting the cost of transporting goods around the U.S., as well as in construction and farming. 

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Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Thursday that its navy targeted a U.S. unmanned surface vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.

"The Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted a Saildrone Explorer-type unmanned surface vessel in the Strait of Hormuz area," the guard said in a statement carried by its Sepah news outlet under the headline "Destruction of a US Saildrone in the Strait of Hormuz."

The ideological arm of the Iranian military added that the sea drone had been used in the region by the U.S. Fifth Fleet stationed in Bahrain.

Washington has previously used Saildrone Explorer USVs to gather data and images in the Gulf. The sea drones are driven by solar and wind energy and can be deployed on missions in the ocean for up to one year.

This isn't the first time Iran has seized a U.S. Saildrone Explorer. In September 2022, Iran seized multiple drones, but  later released them at the United States' request.

Iran on Wednesday said it captured an unmanned U.S. submarine drone, providing video of the drone being pulled out of the water. The U.S. military said one of its underwater drones had "malfunctioned."

CBS/AFP