The United States has ordered non-emergency civil servants and their families to leave Saudi Arabia as Houthi attacks intensify.
The move comes as the U.S. and Israeli militaries are formulating concrete plans to strike Iran again after next month’s midterm elections, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials.
The Times said plans were underway for a “short but intensive” operation.
The developments signal a possible escalation of the nearly eight-month war, while U.S. and Iranian negotiators continue talks over Tehran’s nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz.
State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggott said in a post on X that the order applies only to Saudi Arabia, citing an increase in attacks on civilian targets by the Iranian-allied Houthis. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the government in Washington also plans to withdraw families from other missions in the region.
At least one person was killed and eight others injured in an attack at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on Wednesday. The Saudi Press Agency added that two people were killed in a drone attack on Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oil field, but operations were not affected.
According to the New York Times, the US and Israeli militaries have stepped up military exercises in recent days, including flying aircraft over Iraq for attack drills. The paper also reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made an unannounced visit to Israel this week and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the possibility of a new attack.
The Times noted that new military strikes are likely to target Iran’s energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities, missiles and drone weapons, and that President Donald Trump has yet to authorize any new strikes and has repeatedly vetoed plans for a return to large-scale combat this year.
Iranian officials have vowed to expand attacks to target data centers and undersea internet cables while refusing to make concessions on its nuclear program.
Despite continued disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Middle East oil flows through the crucial strait have recovered to near pre-war levels, Kupler said.
as brent crude oil Crude oil prices topped $110 a barrel, with West Texas Intermediate up 1% to $98.12, the commodity research firm said, with oil prices likely to rise as demand for Chinese crude oil recovers.
“China’s crude oil import demand is expected to continue to recover due to increased refinery production and rapid decline in crude oil inventories,” said Muyu Xu, senior crude oil analyst at Kpler. The war has decimated China’s oil reserves, with Xu estimating that 1.6 million barrels a day were depleted in September, the fastest rate on record.
China still has 1.1 billion barrels of reserves, equivalent to about 80 days of oil refinery needs, Xu said. He added that large amounts of new crude oil are unlikely to arrive in China because virtually all cargo from Iran outside the U.S. blockade has been unloaded.
China’s state-owned refiners are likely to have more appetite and urgency to secure Middle Eastern barrels quickly as they face higher throughput and inventory replenishment needs. Independent refiners are also seeking alternatives to Iranian crude, a change that could limit further declines in the Dubai structure, Xu said.
