US-Iran war: Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi says 'no military solution' to Yemen conflict

[00:00:00]Iran's foreign minister says there is no military solution to the escalating conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthis. He made the remarks after the two sides exchange fire on the new front in the widening Middle East conflict. However, Zarif has insisted the fighting cannot be attributed to Tehran, pointing to old disputed issues between Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and countries in the region. Greek security sources say Saudi air defenses intercepted two ballistic missiles launched from Yemen, which were targeting facilities in the Saudi port city of Yanbu. The Houthis also claimed it struck the southern city of Jizan.

[00:00:39]The attacks came after Saudi strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, which Riyadh says were threatening commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The exchanges come days after the Houthis declared of a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia. The group says it attacked two Saudi tankers earlier this week, with Riyadh confirming one incident in the Red Sea. Meanwhile, the US military broke its daily announcement of attacks on Iran after 13 consecutive days of striking military targets in the country. President Donald Trump, though, says he has yet to decide on any major new strikes.

[00:01:16]And for the latest, Blake Hounshell is covering this story for CNN live from Tel Aviv. Uh Blake, how significant is the latest escalation between Houthis and Saudi Arabia for the region?

[00:01:31]>> Good evening, Paul. Well, the Houthis had said that if they were targeted by the Saudi Arabian military that they would escalate not only by continuing to strike oil tankers carrying Saudi oil, but also by targeting Saudi oil facilities directly as well as airports and military bases. And after Saudi forces attacked Houthi targets in the port city of Hodeidah and at a nearby island, it appears that Houthis have acted on that threat. As you say, they fired missiles towards the southern Saudi port city of Jizan. And crucially, it's been reported that air defenses manned by Greek military personnel in Saudi Arabia down those two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis at the Yanbu oil facility. When the war in and around Iran began, Saudi Arabia began moving millions of barrels of oil per day away from the Strait of Hormuz across the country through their east-west pipeline that ends at those oil facilities at Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. So, that oil now does appear to be in jeopardy with the Houthis now targeting those facilities directly. And of course, as energy supplies out of the Strait of Hormuz appear to be mostly choked off, this developing situation in the Red Sea does threaten to further damage global energy supplies. As you say, we've heard today from Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, he said that dialogue must be held and that there's no military solution to this conflict. And while the US has not yet gotten involved in the situation in the Red Sea, President Trump several days ago did say that he would hold Iran responsible if the Houthis attempted to blockade the Red Sea. And he promised major punishment for both Iran and the Houthis.

[00:03:16]>> Well, President Trump did mention that Iran is becoming more serious in talks with Washington. What's the latest on diplomatic efforts between the two sides?

[00:03:29]>> Well, that's right. Yesterday, President Trump said that Iran is still talking to the United States. He said they would love to make a deal. And he said that he believes that they are serious in that the discussions they're holding with mediators and with the United States.

[00:03:43]Now, yesterday we did see a small small glimmer of hope really in that for the first time in 2 weeks, the United States did not carry out any overnight air strikes targeting Iran and Iran did not carry out any strikes uh targeting US assets in the region. And I think perhaps it shows just how badly the situation has deteriorated that it's notable that for the first time in 2 weeks the United States and Iran have not exchanged uh air strikes uh over overnight. Um now a little more than a month ago we need to remember though that the US and Iran had reached an interim ceasefire, the memorandum of understanding, uh and there was significant hope that perhaps a wider deal and a permanent end to the war could be reached. But of course President Trump has also warned that the US is locked and loaded. And while the United States military did not carry out strikes directly on Iran yesterday, they did strike and disable a ship that they said was trying to break the maritime blockade uh of Iran. And in another reminder that escalation is still possible, over the last few days the United States has reportedly sent additional fighter aircraft to the Middle East to bolster the already very significant presence they have here in the region.

[00:04:52]>> All right, thanks for that update, Blake. Blake Sefton covering this story for CNN live from Tel Aviv.