Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militia claimed responsibility on Sunday for launching a drone strike against a Saudi Aramco oil refinery in southwestern Saudi Arabia, marking the latest escalation in a widening regional conflict.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree asserted that the group successfully targeted an Aramco facility located in Jazan using an unmanned aerial vehicle.

According to Saree, the cross-border operation was executed in retaliation for alleged incursions by Saudi drones into Yemeni airspace over Saada and Hajjah provinces.

Earlier on Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy confirmed that emergency crews extinguished a fire at an infrastructure facility connected to the Jazan Aramco refinery.

Officials stated that industrial safety teams swiftly brought the blaze under control without any reported casualties, though the ministry did not explicitly detail the cause of the fire.

The strike underscores an escalating cycle of Houthi drone and missile assaults directed at Saudi territory and Red Sea shipping lanes, raising alarms over a full-scale collapse of the relative calm maintained since a 2022 truce suspended major combat in Yemen's civil war.

Simultaneously, Iran declared that the vital Strait of Hormuz will remain blocked until Washington fundamentally alters its posture, introducing a set of stringent preconditions that threaten to stall diplomatic efforts to restore passage through the global energy corridor.

According to Iranian state media, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr—Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and a commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—emphasized that the United States must permanently cease its hostilities against Iran and its regional partners.

Outlining Tehran's updated position, Zolghadr demanded that Washington provide guarantees against future security threats, dismantle its naval blockade of Iranian ports, and completely withdraw US forces from the region.

Tehran further required full financial restitution for war-inflicted damages, a complete repeal of economic sanctions, and the unconditioned unfreezing of all restricted Iranian financial assets.

The United States, which has sought a binding agreement regarding transit through the Strait of Hormuz before lifting its naval blockade, did not immediately issue an official response to Tehran's demands.

Under a preliminary framework established in June, subsequent negotiations were designed to outline a detailed schedule for sanction rollbacks, asset releases, and compensation mechanisms.

However, Tehran’s latest ultimatum casts uncertainty over those talks as the wider regional crisis continues to expand.

Source: AP