Live Updates: Russian diplomat condemns U.S.-Israel attacks in Tehran visit as Netanyahu tells Trump “we have a job to finish”

Iran’s top security official called for stronger cooperation with Russia to bolster regional security after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Tehran on Monday, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said.

Gen. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said that cooperation could include joint economic projects, such as the completion of transportation corridors. Lavrov, meanwhile, condemned the U.S.-Israeli military attacks on Iran as illegal during his first visit to Iran since the U.S. launched its war with Iran almost eight months ago.

Also in Tehran on Monday, Iran summoned Germany’s ambassador over what it called baseless accusations, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said. Germany had summoned Iran’s ambassador in Berlin the same day after a court sentenced two men with ties to Iran’s intelligence service for plotting to kill the leader of a Jewish organization in Germany.

President Masoud Pezeshkian also said Iran is willing to resolve tensions through dialogue, blaming U.S. interference for divisions in the region, state-run IRNA reported.

Pezeshkian made the remarks during Monday’s meeting with Lavrov, saying the presence of U.S. military bases in neighboring countries had only increased tensions, instability and insecurity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video on Monday of a phone call between him and President Trump, in which the two leaders traded praises and suggested they may again attack Iran together. 

Netanyahu shared the call one day after Mr. Trump endorsed his reelection bid. In it, the U.S. president could be heard telling the prime minister on speakerphone: “I think you’re going to have a tremendous victory, actually.”

“You’re the man I want by my side, Bibi,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

Netanyahu hailed Mr. Trump for joining Israel in attacking Iran in late February.

“Donald, we have a job to finish,” a beaming Netanyahu said. “We’ll finish it together. We’ll finish it, and no one else will do it.”

Netanyahu did not elaborate but again described Iran’s clerical state, which remains in power nearly eight months after the joint attack, as “the greatest danger.”

CBS/AFP

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement Monday that the group had carried out six military operations in Saudi Arabia over the previous 48 hours, amid a sharp escalation in hostilities between the Iran-backed group and the kingdom. 

Saree said the attacks targeted military sites, airports and oil infrastructure, including King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Aramco facilities in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast, and the Shaybah oil field near the border with the United Arab Emirates.

Other strikes hit Abha International Airport, radar installations, Khamis Mushait air base in southwestern Saudi Arabia, a Saudi naval force camp, and a separate radar site in Bir Askar in the kingdom’s south, according to Saree. 

He described the attacks as retaliation for more than 200 Saudi strikes and missile attacks on Houthi-held areas over the previous 48 hours, saying the Houthis would pursue a policy of “escalation for escalation” until attacks on Yemen cease. 

On Sunday, the Houthi-run Health Ministry blamed Saudi-led forces for airstrikes that killed or wounded more than 30 people in Yemen’s rebel-held territory over the weekend, including one in the northern province of Saada that left at least nine dead. Five children and two women were among those killed, according to the rebel group.

AP/AFP

At least 53 soldiers were killed and another 200 recruits were injured at a military camp on Monday, when Houthi rebels struck Yemeni forces with ballistic missiles, Yemeni military officials said. The targeted camp is in the southern province of Shabwa. The provincial government there also acknowledged the strike, as did the Iran-backed rebel group.

The attack was one of the deadliest since fighting resurged between the Houthis and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces this summer, as a widening front in the Iran war that began in February.

The provincial government in Shabwa said the death toll from Monday’s attack could rise. 

“This bloody, treacherous attack targeted new recruits in the training and preparation phase and is considered an extremely critical military escalation and a blatant aggression on the security and stability of Shabwa province,” the provincial government said in a statement, which also called on Yemen’s president, the Saudi-led coalition and the government to expedite air defense and early warning systems to reinforce Shabwa’s capabilities.

The head of Yemen’s ruling Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, promised a “firm response” and said the attack reflects the Houthis’ “approach of resorting to cowardly terrorist attacks whenever they face pressures or their Iranian-backed sabotage plots falter.”

One Yemeni military official said the missiles struck while recruits were lining up in formation for a training session. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

CBS/AP

Residents of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital city, received alert messages from authorities on Monday that warned of “a hostile aerial threat.” AFP journalists received the alerts, too, which were sent to their phones, according to the outlet. 

“A warning has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform in Riyadh City to alert of a potential danger,” Saudi Arabia’s civil defense agency said in a statement on X. The agency also reported that the same warning had been issued for the nearby Kharj area.

A woman in her thirties living in northern Riyadh said she heard the sound of explosions, telling AFP: “we got used to this.”

The warning, which often signals incoming Houthi attacks, was lifted shortly after the defense agency’s announcement. But it came as attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have intensified in Saudi Arabia. Hours later, the Houthis claimed a series of missile and drone attacks on Riyadh’s international airport and other targets across the kingdom over the past two days.

CBS/AFP

A major Saudi investment conference has been postponed to next year, its chief executive officer said on Monday, as the kingdom comes under repeated attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.

Maha Al Saud, the CEO of the annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute, said the event, which was scheduled to take place in Riyadh from Oct. 26 to 29, would instead happen in 2027 in a statement posted on X. She said organizers wanted to ensure the gathering’s tenth anniversary edition delivered the “full scale” and “extraordinary quality” participants expected.

“This decision comes from a deep commitment to our partners, members, speakers and delegates,” her statement said, adding: “A decade of partnership and shared vision deserves nothing less than our absolute best.”

New conference dates will be announced soon, while current registrations and partnerships will remain valid, according to the statement.

For nearly a decade, the conference has served as a showcase for Saudi Arabia’s efforts to attract global investors, business leaders and heads of state. The postponement dealt a blow to the kingdom’s ambitions to draw foreign capital, diversify its oil-reliant economy and push its reform agenda.

Three sources familiar with the matter had earlier told AFP the conference would be postponed.

CBS/AFP

Egypt’s parliament on Monday postponed its debate on President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s request to authorize military support to Saudi Arabia, which has faced mounting attacks from Yemen’s Houthis, Egyptian state media reported. The debate has been delayed until next week, according to the report.

“House Speaker Hisham Badawi has adjourned the second parliamentary session dedicated to discussing authorization for taking necessary measures to support and assist the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with discussions set to resume on October 26,” Egypt’s state-run Al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

The postponement concluded a second day of parliamentary sessions in which Egyptian lawmakers weighed Sisi’s request to approve support for Saudi Arabia, if requested by the kingdom. An emergency session on Sunday also ended without a decision. 

Two lawmakers told AFP on Sunday that most parliamentarians supported the proposal, and a decision wasn’t reached during that first session in order to “give all lawmakers the opportunity to speak and express their views.”

The Egyptian Social Democratic Party, an opposition party with nearly a dozen seats in parliament, said it had instructed its parliamentary bloc to abstain from voting.

Although it described its solidarity with Saudi Arabia as “firm,” the party said any deployment of Egyptian forces abroad should be guided by “specific objectives, clear information” and “an accurate assessment of the potential risks to the lives of our soldiers.”

CBS/AFP

Yemen’s Saudi-backed government claimed Monday to have killed 558 Houthi fighters over the past 24 hours. In a post on X, Col. Majed Al-Nazili said Yemeni forces had carried out 1,164 operations against the Iran-backed rebels. 

“The operations resulted in neutralizing (558) militia elements, including field commanders,” he wrote. 

A major Saudi investment conference is set to be postponed, three sources briefed on the matter told the French news agency AFP on Monday, amid repeated attacks on the kingdom by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

One source said the event “won’t happen on time” and that organizers “won’t announce a new date soon.” A second source, who confirmed the event would be postponed, told AFP: “Who would be willing to risk flying to Riyadh these days?”

Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute hosts an annual forum often referred to as “Davos in the desert.” The event typically draws foreign leaders and business titans, and this year it is  scheduled to be held in Riyadh from Oct. 26 to 29.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the conference would either be held online or postponed.

CBS/AFP 

Iran’s top diplomat on Monday accused the United States of being responsible for the insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz that has left the nearly-eight month conflict sparked by joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran unresolved, despite the cessation of major military operations.

“The war imposed by the United States and the Zionist regime [Israel], combined with the economic blockade [on Iran’s ports], constitutes the principal source of insecurity in our region,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, echoing many similar statements by himself and other senior Iranian figures.

He made the remark Monday during a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, who arrived in Tehran earlier Monday for his first visit since the outbreak of the war, as Russia tries to frame itself as a potential mediator despite close ties with the Iranian regime.

Lavrov was also scheduled to meet Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during his visit, according to Russia’s foreign ministry. The veteran Russian diplomat said Moscow’s efforts were “aimed at preventing the return of a large-scale war,” with talks between Tehran and Washington at a standstill.

CBS/AFP

Iran’s Acting Oil Minister Hamid Bovard met Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, in Doha on Monday to discuss energy relations and cooperation between the two countries.

According to Iran’s official news agency IRNA, al-Kaabi confirmed the meeting, which focused on bilateral energy ties and opportunities for cooperation.

The death toll from a Houthi missile strike on a camp in Yemen’s government-controlled Shabwa province rose to 50 on Monday, a government official told the French news agency AFP, after military sources earlier put the toll at more than 30.

The Iran-backed rebels fired ballistic missiles at the al-Alam military camp in the southern province of Shabwa.

“The death toll has risen to at least 50, with more than 100 people injured, some of them in critical condition,” said Fahad al-Khalifi, deputy governor of Shabwa.

He added that hospitals in the province were overwhelmed and had been forced to transfer the most seriously wounded to facilities in neighboring Hadramout and Aden.

CBS/AFP

Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck a military camp for government forces in southern Yemen on Monday, killing at least 20 soldiers, two Yemeni military officials said.

The rebels fired ballistic missiles at the al-Alam military camp in the southern province of Shabwa in an attack that left at least two dozen more troops wounded, the officials said.

The military officials with the internationally recognized government of Yemen spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Yemen’s decade-long civil war has intensified and become intertwined with the wider regional conflict sparked by the U.S. war with Iran over the last few months, as the Houthis, considered one of Iran’s most potent proxy forces, attack the government’s Saudi backers on their home turf. 

Houthi strikes on Saudi infrastructure, including civilian airports, have killed more than 20 people in recent weeks, and President Trump has said he’s considering joining Saudi operations against the rebels. The Houthis have warned that if the U.S. does intervene, it would prompt a  “swift and painful” retaliation against U.S. personnel and interests across the region.

CBS/AP

Oil prices were down early Monday, with Brent crude, the international standard, falling 2.5% to $107.16 per barrel and benchmark U.S. crude dropping 2.2% to $96.84 per barrel.

The prices fell after President Trump late Friday signed an executive order to put new U.S. sanctions against Russia on hold just days before they were to come into effect, drawing disappointment from Ukraine, with the move likely resulting in more energy exports from Russia.

Mr. Trump’s decision came not long after he said earlier this month he had reached a diesel deal with Russia in an attempt to bring down elevated U.S. fuel prices ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

But despite Mr. Trump’s controversial efforts to ease energy costs for Americans, oil prices have remained much higher compared to before the Iran war, due in large part to the ongoing risks to the supply chain caused by the crisis in the Middle East.

On Friday the price of Brent crude hit nearly $110 a barrel, its highest level since mid-May.

CBS/AP

A tug boat traveling near the Strait of Hormuz was struck by two unknown projectiles, a British maritime monitoring agency said Sunday.

The U.K. navy’s Maritime Trade Operations center (UKMTO) said in a statement that a tugboat traveling southbound off the coast of the United Arab Emirates “reported being struck by two unknown projectiles.”

“The tug has sustained damage but is continuing on its route,” the agency said, “one minor casualty has been reported.”

Last week saw 10 attacks on commercial vessels in and near the strait, according to the UKMTO, which said October has already become the worst month for attacks on shipping in the strait since the early days of the war in March. 

The U.S. issued a security alert on Monday urging Americans in the Middle East to “exercise heightened vigilance.”

“Iranian-supported Houthis have engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure resulting in civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions,” the statement said.

It added that hostilities have the potential to escalate rapidly and that groups backed by Iran may target U.S. interests overseas “or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world.”

At least 20 people, including one American, were killed in one week in October when Houthi rebels attacked Saudi airports.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was expected to pay his first visit to Iran on Monday since the U.S. and Israel sparked the ongoing war with the Islamic Republic by launching joint strikes on Feb. 28.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Sunday that the two sides would discuss “regional and international developments,” while Lavrov said his visit was “aimed at preventing the return of a large-scale war.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Iranian counterpart in early October that Moscow was prepared to contribute to mediation efforts.

Iran presented a seven-day ceasefire proposal in late September that called for an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a return to direct negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program. President Trump rejected the proposal, which Iran says remains on the table.

CBS/AFP

Conflict raged between the Houthis and the Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Iran-backed rebel group on Sunday, as both sides traded strikes. 

In Riyadh, where intensifying violence has disrupted life for residents, the landmark Kingdom Centre skyscraper ordered “mandatory” remote working for office tenants until further notice. Although a reason for the order wasn’t provided, it followed a security alert and two drone interceptions around the capital city, in addition to a number of attacks by Houthis on Saudi targets in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition, which backs the internationally-recognized government in war-wracked Yemen, has launched repeated air raids on regions of the country that Houthis control. One alleged Saudi airstrike in northern Yemen  killed at least nine people and wounded 16 others on Sunday, the Houthis’ Saba news agency reported.

The coalition said Sunday that two pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed in Najran, near the Yemen border, blaming a “technical malfunction” for the incident. The Houthis said they “downed an Apache helicopter belonging to the Saudi enemy” in the same area.

CBS/AFP

Iran’s foreign minister said Sunday that Tehran’s conditions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz have not changed, but that its proposal for a limited ceasefire with the U.S. to reopen the vital waterway remains on the table.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency on Sunday that Tehran is still reviewing “comments” from the U.S. on the Iranian proposal for a seven-day ceasefire that was first presented in September, but rejected by President Trump.

“If they comply with our conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will reopen on the sixth day, and negotiations will begin on the seventh day,” Araghchi said, referring to the timeline proposed by Iran, which calls for the U.S. to lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports and to ease sanctions on the country, among other concessions. 

“Our conditions are fair, and if the United States is willing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, it can meet them within a few days,” Araghchi said.