Houthis keep up attacks as outside pressure mounts on Iran

The war between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis has reached the Kingdom's largest cities and is pulling in outside powers to clamp it down. Yemen’s Houthis said they hit “sensitive” sites in Riyadh with missiles and drones yesterday, hours after a fire broke out near Riyadh’s main airport and reports of explosions in the Olaya district, Reuters reports. The Kingdom has not commented. Beyond the capital, Saudi civil defense also issued brief emergency alerts across Jeddah, Yanbu, Taif, and other cities over the weekend.

Saudi Arabia has kept up a heavy air campaign, carrying out 26 airstrikes on the group over the weekend, bringing the week’s total to 300, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on X. The jets took off from the Khamis Mushait and Taif bases and hit Taiz, Hodeidah, Marib, Al Jawf, Al Bayda, Amran, Lahj, and Saada governorates in Yemen, he said.

First fatality on home soil: A Yemeni resident of Saudi Arabia was killed by debris from a drone that was intercepted over Taif — the first death reported since fighting intensified last week, against more than 80 wounded before it, Saudi civil defense said. The Kingdom earlier said it downed a drone near Makkah.

The fighting is drawing an international response. The UN Security Council condemned the attacks and called for an immediate halt to the escalation, warning that continued strikes threaten to widen the conflict, disrupt maritime security and international trade, and undermine peace efforts in Yemen, while affirming Saudi Arabia’s right to self-defense under international law.

China is leaning on Iran: Beijing asked Tehran to help rein in the Houthis after Riyadh appealed to China, Reuters reports, citing three Iranian sources familiar with the matter. China wants Iran to use its sway over the group to keep the conflict clear of the energy routes it depends on. Around half of China’s oil imports come from the region, and annual China-GCC trade runs to roughly USD 300 bn. Tehran replied that regional stability depends on ending the war with the US and Israel.

Iran can’t afford to lose Beijing’s support, but it’s a matter of competing priorities. Chinese buyers accounted for more than 80% of Iran’s oil exports in 2025, according to Kpler, and Tehran relies on Beijing to blunt US sanctions and to fund its oil industry. Even so, the sources said, China’s interests are only one factor in Iranian decisions, which are shaped by competing economic and political priorities.

Pakistan has pressed Iran to curb the Houthis too. The South Asian country’s army chief warned that further escalation could push Islamabad to defend Saudi Arabia if Riyadh invokes the mutual-defense clause in the newly formed trilateral Makkah Defense Pact with Turkey, the Financial Times reports, citing people familiar with the talks. Iran maintained that the Houthis act on their own and that the conflict is between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. As for the prospect of military action, Islamabad has been more guarded, saying there have been no discussions of a military response under the pact but that it would act “when the time comes,” according to Reuters.

Turkey, however, has put its hand up. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Saturday that Ankara is ready to help meet Saudi Arabia's military needs “especially on some technical issues,” standing in “serious solidarity” and stands in “serious solidarity” with the Kingdom amid Houthi attacks. He also warned that while the crisis had been tolerated up to a point, its economic fallout has “started to exceed the point of being tolerable.”

Still, bringing in Riyadh’s defense partners is more complicated than it looks. Any intervention would need a formal request from the state under attack. In Turkey’s case, ratification by the Turkish parliament (expected in October) is needed before the pact can take effect. Both Islamabad and Ankara also carry longstanding political and trade ties with Iran, while Pakistan is relying on fresh Saudi financial support, including a new USD 3 bn loan and an extension of its existing USD 5 bn deposit, to ease its financial strains.

But the Kingdom is casting a wide net, seeking support across the region. However, "none of this appears to be working," a diplomat told the FT, “everybody is waiting to see what happens over the next two weeks.” Saudi Arabia is seeking help in its own and the Yemeni government’s efforts to loosen the Houthis’ grip on Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the islands the group has seized.