Iranian Ship Hit Near Strait of Hormuz; Houthis Fire on Saudi Arabia

An Iranian commercial ship was struck early Sunday near the Strait of Hormuz, leaving one person dead and three wounded, Iranian state media reported. The vessel was hit off Qeshm Island, the largest island in the Persian Gulf, which sits on the strait.

Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations monitor said a vessel was struck by a projectile while transiting the strait. It did not provide further details, and it was not immediately clear whether the two reports referred to the same incident.

The U.S. military, which has previously struck Iranian-flagged vessels as part of a blockade of Iranian ports, did not immediately comment. On Saturday, it said its forces had redirected 100 commercial vessels over the past 60 days.

In Yemen, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they fired drones and missiles toward neighbouring Saudi Arabia. The group's military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, said in a statement that they targeted a military base in Sharurah province in the Najran region. He offered no evidence and did not say when the attack took place.

Saudi civil defence said sirens sounded in the province on Saturday, with no casualties or damage reported. Overnight, it also said a projectile fell in al-Tawwal governorate near the border with Yemen along the Red Sea, injuring two people and damaging a mosque and several other buildings. The statement blamed the Houthis.

The fighting between the Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government risks a return to civil war after four years of a truce.