IranA Pact and a Refinery Fire: The Houthis Strike Jazan Days After Saudi Arabia Signs Mutual Defence With Turkey and Pakistan
Day 163 in one line: Saudi Arabia answered five months of attacks by signing a mutual-defence alliance with Turkey and Pakistan — and the Houthis answered the alliance within two days by burning Aramco’s Jazan refinery and killing seven at the Red Sea port that is the kingdom’s only alternative to Hormuz.
The Pact: An Attack on One Is an Attack on All
Saudi Arabia signed a defence pact with Turkey and Pakistan on Friday, in response to the regional instability generated by the war. The alliance with the two Sunni Muslim US allies is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression, and stipulates that an armed attack against any of the three would be regarded as an attack on all. It is the most significant realignment of the war so far: a Gulf state that entered as a target and became a belligerent on Day 152 has now bound two nuclear-capable and NATO-member partners to its defence. It was not clear whether or how Pakistan or Turkey would join any Saudi response to the attacks that followed.
Jazan Burns Again
Two days later the Houthis said they had struck Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery with a drone. The Saudi energy ministry confirmed a fire had broken out and was subsequently extinguished, reporting no injuries and giving no cause. Jazan processes 400,000 barrels of crude per day in the kingdom’s southwest and has been hit before — this tracker logged the first Houthi strike on it on Day 148, which opened the Saudi-Houthi front. Military spokesman Yahya Saree said the strikes targeted Saudi troops and a weapons arsenal in the area. Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser said last week that attacks on company facilities had caused some production interruptions but no material operational or financial impact, and that operations could be restored quickly.
Mocha: Seven Killed at the Kingdom’s Only Alternative
In a separate statement Saree said the Houthis had carried out missile and drone strikes on the Yemeni Red Sea port city of Mocha, held by the Aden-based government. A Yemeni military spokesman said the attack killed seven people, and the transportation ministry reported severe damage to port infrastructure, calling it another assault on a vital civilian facility serving citizens and supporting commercial and maritime activity in the Red Sea. Three government sources said air defences were engaging drones aimed at the commercial quay and storage areas. The strategic logic is unambiguous: Mocha sits beside the Bab el-Mandeb, and if that passage closes, Saudi Arabia loses its only alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
Sanaa’s Message and Aden’s Appeal
Yemen’s military said it thwarted a further Houthi attack hours after the group claimed its strikes against Saudi forces. Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Saudi-backed presidential council, said the attacks placed a responsibility on the international community and above all the United States to move beyond containing the Houthi threat and instead address its sources and instruments — an explicit call for action against Iranian supply lines rather than interception at the point of attack.
Washington’s Objective and the Price at the Pump
Vice President Vance told Fox News the United States is seeking to "maximize the amount of oil and gas coming out of the Strait of Hormuz" as Iran and Oman signalled progress on their management deal. The domestic arithmetic behind that objective was visible the same day: the US national average for petrol stood at $4.01 a gallon, down eight cents on the week but 34.6 percent higher than before the war began. Oil futures were set to reopen after a weekend in which Iran’s national security chief issued the list of preconditions logged on Day 162, dampening expectations of an immediate shipping recovery.
Hormuz: Another UAE Vessel and the Human Cost
A UAE commercial vessel was struck in the Persian Gulf, a day after the ADNOC tanker attack logged on Day 162. Reporting turned to the crews caught in the waterway: ordinary seafarers trapped in the strait, with Iranian strikes having killed and injured merchant sailors who have no part in the dispute over transit rights and fees. The strait remains closed and the Iranian preconditions stand.
Status Assessment
Tracker status holds at WAR RESUMED. Day 163 records the war’s first formal expansion of alliance structures — Riyadh binding Ankara and Islamabad to its defence — and an immediate test of whether that deterrence means anything, with two Houthi strike packages landing inside 48 hours and no indication either new partner intends to respond. The Houthi target set is now explicitly the kingdom’s energy exports and its fallback route: Jazan burning, Mocha damaged, seven dead. Meanwhile the Hormuz talks continue with Iranian preconditions unmet and Gulf shipping still under fire.