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

President Trump teased a "big announcement coming up on diesel" during remarks Friday at a Columbus Day celebration, but offered little information to speculate on what the announcement would be about.

Mr. Trump pointed out Energy Secretary Chris Wright and said he was "doing a great job."

"We have, I think, some big news on that diesel situation," the president said. "It's gonna — we're gonna be knocking the hell out of it. And remember, what have we done? We stopped Iran from having a nuclear weapon. That's big time. And the prices — the prices will come tumbling."

Diesel prices have skyrocketed in recent months amid the war with Iran. The average price of a gallon of diesel is $6.28, according to AAA, which is up from $5.94 a month ago and $3.68 a year ago. 

Diesel had never previously crossed $6 a gallon until just before Labor Day weekend. The record, hit on Sept. 22, was $6.53 per gallon. Diesel is widely used in the trucking, agriculture and construction sectors, so it's a factor for nearly every type of good, including groceries.

The Trump administration has looked into several ways to lower diesel prices, most recently signing an executive order this week allowing the use of red-dyed diesel on highways. Red-dyed diesel is exempt from the federal tax of 24.4 cents a gallon that applies to regular diesel.

Sri Lanka's government says it has no immediate plans to help 19 Iranian ships that have been anchored in the international waters near the island nation facing food, water and fuel shortages.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Thushara Rodrigo said Sri Lanka will put its national interest first before considering any help, and the companies that supply ships are aware of possible secondary sanctions from the United States.

He said, however, there hasn't been any communication from the U.S. warning of repercussions should Sri Lanka decide to help.

Rodrigo said the ships are stationed 24 nautical miles from Sri Lanka's coast and have reported shortages of food, water and fuel.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told local Sunday Times newspaper the ships are Iranian oil tankers and they have been anchored off Sri Lanka for the past several months after the U.S. resumed its naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, leaving dozens of Iranian vessels stranded and unable to return home.

The U.K., France, Germany, Australia and Canada have advised their citizens against travel to parts of Saudi Arabia following a wave of Houthi attacks, including one that killed three civilians at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on Thursday.

The U.K. Foreign Office now advises against all but essential travel to the Riyadh region, Najran, Jizan and Aseer provinces, Taif city and Taif International Airport, and against all travel within six miles of the Yemeni border.

France says travel to Najran, Abha, Khamis Muhsait and Djizan in the south of the kingdom "remains strongly discouraged," and Germany, Australia and Canada have all advised against all travel to the country.

The U.S. has also tightened restrictions, requiring government employees to obtain special authorization to use Riyadh airport, and barring them from all travel within 20 miles of the Yemen border. U.S. government employees also require "special authorization for travel to the provinces of Jizan, Asir, Najran, and the cities of Qatif, Yanbu, and Taif."

There is currently no warning for U.S. nationals more broadly to avoid Saudi Arabia, but the U.S. embassy in Riyadh urged Americans across the Middle East to "exercise heightened vigilance due to the complex security environment."

Yemeni government forces, backed by air support from the Saudi-led coalition, have taken control of the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait and Mayyun Island from the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, a Saudi diplomat said Friday.

Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al Jaber, said in a post on X that the strait had been "cleansed" of remaining Houthi forces.

Fighting escalated dramatically this week after the Saudi-backed Yemeni government launched an offensive to retake territory held by Houthis, including some coastline around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that was seized by the rebels only weeks ago. The Houthis have held a vast portion of Yemen, including its capital Sanaa, for over a decade.

Yemeni forces claimed earlier this week to have retaken other key territory along the Red Sea coast, north of the strait, but the Houthis insisted Tuesday that their fighters still had "full control over all their gains on the ground."  

The Iran-backed Houthis appeared to taunt Saudi Arabia on Friday, as the group's spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree declared that humanitarian flights to and from Riyadh's airport would be allowed only with authorization from the Yemeni rebel group.

"Humanitarian flights to and from Riyadh airport will be allowed for all flights that have obtained a permit from the Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center in the capital, Sanaa," Saree said in a post on X.

The statement was a challenge to Saudi Arabia's control of its own airspace. It came just a day after a Houthi attack killed three people at Riyadh's King Khaled International Airport, including a Saudia Airlines captain.

The Houthis warned international airlines on Monday that "operating in the skies of Saudi Arabia" would be "unsafe as long as the Saudi aggression against our country continues."

The statement from the Houthis' Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (NOCC) said "the skies of Saudi Arabia will be a theater for operations by our armed forces," declaring that the rebel group would accept "no responsibility after this announcement" for anything that happens to aircraft.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Friday that its navy had struck a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker after it allegedly attempted to cross the Strait of Hormuz via what it considers an illegal route through the waterway.

In a statement, the IRGC Navy said the vessel, identified as NV Sunshine, was struck "a few hours ago" as it "intended to cross via the illegal route," referring to a U.S.-backed lane that skirts close to the Omani coast. 

On Wednesday, a senior IRGC advisor said Iran would soon block what it considers "illegal routes" through the Strait of Hormuz.

Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a senior adviser to the IRGC commander-in-chief, reiterated Iran's stance that the strait is closed and that Iranian armed forces have "full control" over it, adding that the situation would continue until Iran's "legitimate demands" are met.

The Trump administration insists the strait is open and that the southern route is safe for commercial vessels. The U.S. military has escorted some ships through that route for weeks, helping energy shipments from the Persian Gulf, which have been severely impeded by the ongoing war with Iran, rebound.

Germany is going to release up to 15 million barrels of diesel, crude and heating oil, the country's economy minister said Friday.

"Diesel ⁠and heating oil will be the first, with crude oil to follow," Katherina Reiche told the Reuters news agency, adding that Germany would implement an agreement reached by the G7 last week to release 100 million barrels of diesel oil.

"We must always have the entire supply chain ‌in mind. Available crude oil alone is not enough," she said.

The Trump administration has pressured Europe to draw on its emergency reserves.

Mr. Trump had threatened to ban U.S. diesel exports, a move that would push global diesel prices even higher, saying in late September that he had "called for" such a ban. But after the G7 announcement last week the president said "we were never going to do" it.

The president of the European Union's governing commission, Ursula von der Leyen, condemned on Friday the deadly Houthi missile attack on Saudi Arabia's main international airport the previous day, calling on Iran's proxy groups to "stop their reckless and violent acts."

The attack Thursday on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh killed three Saudi civilians. The Houthis, a rebel group based in Yemen, said they targeted the airport several times this week, including on Thursday. 

"Houthis have once again struck Riyadh's airport, taking three innocent lives," von der Leyen said in a post on X. "We stand in full solidarity with the people of Saudi Arabia and all our Gulf partners."

"Attacks on civilian infrastructure are unacceptable," the EU leader said. "Iran's proxies must stop their reckless and violent acts."

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.