Saudi officials said Wednesday that an administrative building belonging to oil giant Saudi Aramco was targeted overnight, as the Tehran-backed Houthi militants step up their attacks on the kingdom. The strike caused a fire, but no injuries were reported at the site in the city of Dhahran on the country’s eastern coast, according to a statement from the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Energy.
The Houthis, a Yemen-based militia group backed by Iran, have launched a series of strikes on Saudi Arabian targets over the past week. Airport attacks in the capital city of Riyadh led to multiple fatalities, flight cancellations and property damage. Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport remains closed until Saturday.
Yemen’s civil war has returned to full-scale fighting between the Houthis and the country’s internationally recognized government amid a wider regional escalation linked to the U.S.–Iran war.
In a televised interview, IRGC chief Ali Ozmaei said Tehran is “counting the moments” until it can sink American warships, according to Iranian state-affiliated media. “If the Americans think the Strait of Hormuz is open, let them come closer. We are impatient to sink American warships,” Ozmaei reportedly said. “We are waiting for U.S. warships to approach the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz so we can sink them. We are counting down every moment until this happens.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the Islamic Republic has been strengthening defenses around sensitive locations like nuclear sites, and telling regional officials that Tehran will respond to any new U.S. strikes with retaliatory measures across the Middle East as it prepares its population for renewed war in the coming weeks.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that American forces would not attack Iran before the midterm election, which will take place on Nov. 3.
On Wednesday, reports emerged that a cargo ship caught fire and sank in the Strait of Hormuz after hitting a naval mine as it attempted to transit the waterway. CNBC was not able to independently verify the reports. Later on Wednesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said a “verified source” reported that a container ship had been struck by an “unknown projectile.”
In a post on X overnight, U.S. Central Command refuted Iranian claims that the strait is under Iran’s control. “IRGC’s navy commander has no navy. American forces and regional partners clearly control the Strait of Hormuz,” Centcom said. “Just yesterday U.S. forces assisted Gulf partners in shipping more than 19 million barrels of crude oil through the strait.”