US pauses Iran strikes as renewed Yemen fighting widens conflict

Jizan, near the Yemeni border, has a refinery with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day.

Washington offered no immediate explanation for ending a sequence of 13 consecutive nights of intensifying strikes.

The campaign, which included attacks on targets in southern Iran, followed Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz after an interim agreement intended to end hostilities collapsed two weeks earlier.

No Iranian attacks on neighbouring Gulf countries were reported on Saturday, unlike the daily retaliatory attacks that had followed US operations.

“It seems that our dear Iran had a peaceful night last night,” Iranian Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour wrote on X.

Axios, citing two unidentified sources familiar with the matter, reported that President Donald Trump had instructed the military on Friday not to conduct further strikes against Iran.

A senior US official told Reuters on Saturday that Trump “has always been clear that his preference is diplomacy, but he has shown Iran what will happen if they fail to come to the table in a serious way.”

Trump said on Friday that Washington and Tehran were negotiating an end to the conflict, although he maintained that Iran was not yet ready to reach an agreement.