Tehran set out conditions for any possible return to negotiations with the US as the regional conflict widens, with fighting intensifying in Yemen and Saudi Arabia facing a fresh security alert.
Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei said Tehran had conveyed its demands to mediators. According to Al Jazeera, Iran wants an end to hostilities on all fronts, the release of frozen Iranian funds and the lifting of the naval blockade before negotiations can resume.
Qatar and Pakistan are continuing mediation efforts, while Tehran is awaiting a response from US President Donald Trump. The diplomatic push comes as military tensions spread from Iran and the Gulf to Yemen and the Red Sea, raising fresh concerns over regional security and vital shipping routes.
The escalation reached Saudi Arabia’s capital after residents reported explosions in Riyadh following an air raid warning. There were two explosions after authorities issued an alert shortly before 3am local time. Residents were instructed to remain indoors because of a reported hostile aerial threat.
Saudi civil defence authorities lifted the alert around 30 minutes later. The incident came as fighting between Yemen’s government forces and the Iran-aligned Houthis intensified along several fronts.
Yemeni government forces claimed they had shot down a Houthi drone in northern Al Jawf while government aircraft struck Houthi positions near the Al-Qasr roundabout east of Taiz.
Fighting has also intensified around western Taiz, particularly near the Al-Kadahah front and routes leading toward Mokha and the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Government forces said they repelled a Houthi assault in the area, forcing the attackers to withdraw after suffering casualties. The Houthis did not immediately comment on the claims.
Yemeni officials have separately claimed fresh gains along the Aghbarah front. Fayyad Alnoman, an official at the Information Ministry, said government forces and the Popular Resistance captured Jabal al-Bazilah and the Madkhulah area after heavy fighting.
He also claimed Houthi positions, vehicles and reinforcements were targeted around western Taiz. Earlier, the Yemeni army said 30 Houthi fighters were killed and 60 wounded around the Al-Dharifah junction.
The casualty figures and battlefield claims have not been independently verified.
The latest fighting is part of a broader escalation across Yemen. Reports cited in the source material indicate Houthi advances in parts of Al Hudaydah and Taiz, including areas around Mokha and Perim Island near Bab el-Mandeb.
Government forces have meanwhile reported advances in Al Jawf toward Al-Hazm, while fighting continues in Marib, Al-Dhalea and Al-Bayda.
The renewed violence has been described as the most serious escalation since the relative calm that followed the April 2022 truce.
Iran has also clashed with France over human rights allegations. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot of ignoring the deaths of Iranian schoolchildren during a US strike while criticising Tehran.
Araghchi also invoked France’s colonial history in Algeria and accused Paris of failing to acknowledge the scale of deaths during the war of independence.
The Minab school strike reportedly killed 168 people, including 120 students and 26 teachers, while more than 110 others were wounded.
