HEADLINES

• Houthis claim attack on Saudi oil facility in Yemen port READ MORE
• Iran seeks to create grounds for talks with US
• Iran and Oman have agreed on routes to be taken by vessels on Strait of Hormuz
• Israel rejects Trump's 15-point plan for Gaza READ MORE
• Iran to release footage of new Supreme Leader in the future READ MORE

IN DETAIL

Houthi rebels claim responsibility for attack on Saudi Aramco facility in Yemen port

Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed an attack on Saudi Aramco's Jazan refinery two days after Saudi Arabia signed a pact with Türkiye and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability from the war between Iran and the US-Israeli alliance.

The Türkiye-Saudi-Pakistan defense pact brings Saudi Arabia closer to the US and its allies, and is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression against any of the members. According to this treaty, any attack on one of these allies will be regarded as an attack on all of them.

It remains to be seen how either Türkiye or Pakistan will respond to this latest attack.

Last month, the Houthis declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, claiming the Saudis were besieging them, an allegation Riyadh denies.

The Saudi energy ministry says no injuries were sustained from this attack.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree took to X to claim responsibility for the attack, saying they used a drone to target the refinery. His account has since been taken down.

In a separate statement, Saree said the rebels had also carried out a missile and drone strike on the Yemeni port city of Mocha, controlled by the Aden-based government, which is backed by Riyadh.

Israel rejects Trump's 15-point plan, Netanyahu says

Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu said he rejects US President Donald Trump's 15-point plan for Gaza in televised remarks to his cabinet on Sunday (August 9). He went on to say no military withdrawal will take place "until Hamas is genuinely disarmed and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and our citizens."

Netanyahu is currently campaigning for re-election in a vote due on October 27 but is caught between far-right ministers angered by concessions made over Gaza, and his main military ally, US President Donald Trump.

On Monday, Israel scaled back attacks in Gaza after Netanyahu met with Nikolay Mladenov, the Gaza envoy for Trump's Board of Peace overseeing the Gaza ceasefire.

According to a source familiar with Israel's position, the government has agreed the military would only act against what it perceives as immediate threats from Gaza. It has also reportedly agreed to no longer carry out targeted assassinations as it had been doing near daily.

Last month, Trump announced a major breakthrough in his plan to end the war, saying Hamas had accepted a disarmament plan for Gaza in a "a monumental step toward lasting peace and security."

However, the plan quickly ran into issues after Netanyahu said Israel would not withdraw its forces before Hamas had disarmed. Hamas insisted that Israel must halt its attacks on Gaza before they implement their side of the deal.

Netanyahu has said the US "have ideas, some of which are acceptable to us and some of which are unacceptable to us," without elaborating on what parts of the deal fell into either category.

Footage of Supreme Leader will be released in the future, Iranian official says

Footage of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei will be released in the future, Basij Organization deputy Qasem Qoraishi was reported to have said on Sunday.

Khamenei was appointed as supreme leader in March, following the assassination of his father, Ali Khamenei, by the US and Israel. He has not been seen in public since his appointment, leading to speculation about his health.

Senior Iranian officials say he sustained facial disfigurement and other severe injuries in the same missile strike that killed his father, as well as his wife, teenage son and 4 other family members.

Qasem Qoraishi reportedly said the footage would show the supreme leader "among the people and out in the streets, as well as in meetings with the commanders of the armed forces."

This comes just as Iran releases rare footage of the Supreme Leader surrounded by people, without clarifying when the video was taken or who the other people who appear in it are.

Shortly after this report was released, Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, claimed to have recently met with Supreme Leader Khamenei, according to state media. After months of speculation around his health, the Iranian media appear to be attempting to quash rumors that the new Supreme Leader had died.

Pezeshkian has offered differing accounts of his access to the Supreme Leader. In July, the president said his interactions with Khamenei were "increasing day by day", but more recently, in early August, he said communicating with Khamenei was "very difficult".