Iran Flights Cancelled as US Sanctions Bite; Saudis Intercept Houthi Missiles

Iranian flights to Gulf neighbours, including the travel hub Dubai, appeared to have been cancelled on Thursday after a US deadline passed for global firms to halt work with Iran's airlines. The move marks a major step in a campaign President Donald Trump has called "economic D-Day".

Washington has shifted tactics in its long-stalemated war against Iran, extending financial sanctions to target third-country companies that do business with Iranian firms — a practice known as secondary sanctions. The US Treasury had set September 23 as the deadline for compliance with an order to stop dealing with Iranian airlines, aiming to ground Iran's entire civilian fleet.

Iran warned on Wednesday it would retaliate against neighbouring countries that comply with the ban by making their airports "unusable". No government had publicly announced a halt, but Iran's ISNA news agency said all flights to the United Arab Emirates had been stopped as of midnight. No arrivals or departures to Iran were visible on Dubai or Abu Dhabi airport websites on Thursday, and at least two Iranian airlines, Qeshm and Varesh, showed UAE flights cancelled. The UAE's civil aviation authorities did not respond to requests for comment.

Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport still listed flights to and from countries including Afghanistan, Armenia, China, Iraq, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkey, but not nearby Gulf states. ISNA said a flight to Tajikistan was turned back after Turkmenistan closed its airspace. A sustained flight ban could deepen Iran's isolation and worsen an economic crisis, with the country already facing a US blockade of its ports. "We are living in an open-air prison," a retired teacher in Tehran said by text message, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In Saudi Arabia, authorities said they intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi fighters on Thursday, after emergency alerts for areas including Mecca, Jeddah and Yanbu, the main Red Sea oil port. A Saudi-led coalition called the Houthis a "terrorist militia" and vowed to respond firmly to any escalation.

The wider war, launched by Trump alongside Israel in February as "Operation Epic Fury", has disrupted global energy supplies, killed thousands and pushed up oil prices. It has reignited conflicts in regional countries where Iran has allies, first in Lebanon and now in Yemen, where the Houthis declared a blockade on Saudi Arabia in July and launched a rapid advance this month against the Saudi-backed government.

Sources in the internationally recognised Yemeni government said their forces repelled overnight Houthi attacks on a key supply route to Aden. The Houthis, who already controlled the north including Sanaa, seized Yemen's entire Red Sea coast this month and are pushing into highlands near Taiz and the road from Aden. They have kept pressure on government forces holding the Hejat al-Abd mountain pass, a lifeline for pro-government forces and goods entering Taiz. Seizing parts of the Taiz-Aden road could tighten their grip around Taiz and further weaken the government.

More than 700 people have been killed and thousands wounded in the latest fighting, according to the United Nations. Nearly 130,000 Yemenis have been displaced within the country, while more than 3,000 have fled by boat across the Red Sea to Africa.