For the first time, Saudi Arabia laid out the scale of damage to its oil output and exports, although it didn’t specify when the attacks occurred.
The Energy Ministry statement also gave the first public confirmation of Saudi casualties during the war, saying one citizen working as an industrial security guard was killed and seven others wounded.
Thursday’s statement said strikes targeted production, transport and refining sites, as well as petrochemical and power facilities in Riyadh, the Eastern Province, and Yanbu on the Red Sea. The statement didn’t attribute responsibility.
A pumping station on the East-West Pipeline was among the hardest hit, cutting throughput by about 700,000 barrels per day, while outages at Manifa and Khurais reduced output by 600,000 more barrels per day.
Major refineries, including SATORP, Ras Tanura and SAMREF, were also hit, with fires at Ju’aymah disrupting exports of liquefied petroleum gas and natural gas liquids.
US summons Iraqi ambassador to complain about Iran-backed militia attacks, including ‘ambush’ of American diplomats
While acknowledging that Iraqi forces have made efforts to respond to these attacks, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said Baghdad had not done enough to prevent them, according to a statement.
He warned Iraq’s envoy that support for militias by “elements associated with the Iraqi government” is harming U.S.-Iraq ties, adding that Washington expects immediate steps to dismantle the groups.
Trump says Iran ‘better not be’ charging fees on ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz
In a social media post, the president wrote, “There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!”
He offered no further details. The White House supports Iran reopening the strait as part of a tenuous ceasefire deal but says Trump opposes that country’s military using its continued control of the waterway to raise revenue by charging tolls on passing ships.
Trump has spent much of Thursday in closed-door meetings. He does not have any scheduled public events the rest of the day.
Former Iranian foreign minister reportedly died after being wounded in airstrike
A former Iranian foreign minister who once suggested Tehran could seek a nuclear weapon died late Thursday after being wounded in an airstrike last week, Iranian state television reported.
Kamal Kharazi had served as a foreign minister for Iran’s reformist President Mohammad Khatami, then as a foreign affairs adviser to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In 2022, he told news network Al Jazeera that Tehran has “the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb but there has been no decision by Iran to build one,” sparking concern about Tehran’s intentions.
Israel’s military says it has struck ‘approximately 10 launchers’ in Lebanon
Israel’s military said the launchers had fired rockets toward northern Israel on Thursday and that it was working to locate and dismantle more.
Throughout Thursday, sirens had repeatedly alerted communities in northern Israel — especially along the border with Lebanon — that Hezbollah was firing in their direction.
Trump casts doubt on effectiveness of the ceasefire
“Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on his social media site Thursday evening. “That is not the agreement we have!”
Trump had posted earlier about reports of Iran charging fees on ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
“They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!” his post said.
The White House supports reopening the strait as part of the ceasefire deal but says Trump opposes Iran’s military, which continues to control the waterway, from seeking to raise revenue by charging tolls on passing ships.
Trump has not had any public event Thursday.
Kuwait accuses Iran and its proxies of attacking despite ceasefire
Kuwait accused Iran and its proxies of launching drone attacks targeting it on Thursday despite the two-week ceasefire in the Iran war as Saudi Arabia said recent attacks damaged a key pipeline in the kingdom.
A statement from Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry, carried by the state-run KUNA news agency, put new pressure on the ceasefire ahead of planned talks Saturday between the United States and Iran in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said the drone attacks “targeted some vital Kuwaiti facilities Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s state-run Saudi Press Agency, quoting an anonymous official, acknowledged a recent attack in the war that damaged its crucial East-West pipeline. That pipeline carries oil out to the Red Sea and avoids the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran maintains a chokehold on despite the pause in the fighting.
Iran Guard denies launching attacks on Persian Gulf states
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in a statement carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency denied launching attacks on Persian Gulf states on Thursday after Kuwait’s announcement.
“If these reports published by the media are true, without a doubt it is the work of the Zionist enemy or America,” the Guard said.
However, the Guard also launched repeated attacks on civilian targets in the war and also could be using Shiite militias in Iraq to launch assaults, providing deniability for Iran ahead of the talks.
Kuwait base hit by drone attack
Kuwait’s National Guard said one of its bases had been hit in the drone attack and sustained damage, though no one was hurt.
Pakistan to issue visas on arrival ahead of talks
Pakistan said Friday it would issue visas on arrival for those traveling to Islamabad for the Iran-U.S. talks, signaling the interest in the world’s media in the event.
South Korea to send senior diplomat to Iran for talks on Strait of Hormuz
Seoul said senior diplomat Chung Byung-ha will soon depart for Iran as a special envoy to discuss the safety of its citizens and Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Friday that Chung plans to push for freedom of navigation for all vessels in the strait, including South Korean ships.
The ministry earlier said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi welcomed Seoul’s plan to send a special envoy during a phone call with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Thursday.
Source: AP news
