Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for a Saturday strike on Riyadh’s international airport that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, according to Saudi authorities and India’s embassy, which said one of its injured citizens had died. It was the third attack on the airport in a week; two earlier strikes killed four people.

On Sunday, an unidentified projectile struck Terminal 4, starting a fire and injuring an unspecified number of people. Saudi air defences also intercepted a cruise missile near the airport and a drone in the Eastern Province. Riyadh’s airport remains closed, while schools have moved to remote learning until Thursday. An international energy conference nevertheless opened as scheduled about 10 kilometres from the airport.

The Houthis said they had expanded their targets beyond Riyadh’s runways to include Saudi energy infrastructure. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had struck Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport and two Saudi Aramco facilities. Saudi aviation authorities confirmed the Dammam airport strike. A witness told Reuters that the projectile hit the tarmac beside parked aircraft at around 1730 GMT (1:30 p.m. ET).

Aramco and the Saudi government’s media office did not respond to requests for comment, leaving the reported strikes on the oil facilities unverified. The confirmed strike on Dammam and the claims involving Aramco are significant for energy markets because Dammam is the capital of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, the centre of the kingdom’s crude production. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest crude exporter, and the province hosts many of the fields, processing plants, and export terminals that connect its oil to global buyers.

The region has been targeted before. A 2019 drone and missile attack on the Abqaiq processing plant briefly knocked out roughly half of Saudi Arabia’s oil output, highlighting the concentration of the kingdom’s energy infrastructure. The latest claims have left traders assessing whether any Saudi production or export capacity was affected. With Aramco yet to comment, the extent of any damage remains unclear.

The timing also adds pressure to oil logistics. JPMorgan noted last week that the global tanker fleet is already close to full use, meaning any disruption to Gulf loadings or shipping routes would affect a market with limited spare shipping capacity. The potential effect on oil supply and transport is therefore more important than the damage reported at the airport. The uncertainty supports a geopolitical risk premium until the impact on production and exports is clarified. JPMorgan’s tanker assessment was reported in this analysis.

The escalation follows a stepped-up Saudi campaign in Yemen after the Houthis seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month, a shoreline that overlooks some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes for cargo and oil. The group said Saudi Arabia had carried out 124 air strikes in a single day and warned that a stronger response would follow unless the attacks stopped. US President Donald Trump said Washington was considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis. The group warned of a further escalation if Saudi action continued. The developments represent a potential spillover from the wider war with Iran that the United States and Israel began in February.

Against that backdrop, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister discussed the regional escalation and efforts to reduce tensions with his Iranian counterpart, Saudi state media reported on Sunday. It was their first publicly reported contact since the Houthis intensified attacks on the kingdom. The Saudi-Iranian communication is the main counterweight to the military escalation, while any decision by Washington to join the strikes could influence the conflict’s next phase.

Daily life in Riyadh has also been affected. The airport remains closed, schools are operating online until Thursday, and’s economy minister was seeking another route home. The competing developments—Saudi-Iranian discussions, the Houthi threats, and possible US involvement—will determine whether tensions ease or whether the attacks continue to affect Saudi infrastructure and the oil market. The original report is available from ForexLive.