 "Iran missile strikes Saudi air base, US troops wounded, aircraft damaged: Officials")
The war in West Asia continues to escalate with reports emerging that an Iranian missile attack wounded several US service members and damaged several planes at a base in Saudi Arabia on Friday. A US official close to the matter confirmed the incident to The Associated Press.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity and noted that the attack took place on the Prince Sultan Air Base. The incident involved an Iranian missile and unmanned drones that managed to damage several US refuelling aircraft. However, it was not clear how many troops were wounded or how severely.
The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and came after satellite imagery that appeared to show the damage to the aircraft appeared online. Army Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, died days after being wounded during a March 1 attack on the base. Meanwhile, US Central Command said earlier in the day that more than 300 service members have been wounded in the conflict.
Trump urges Saudi Arabia to normalise ties with Israel
Meanwhile, on Friday, US President Donald Trump said that it will be time for Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalise ties after the war in Iran wraps up. “It’s now time,” Trump said at a Miami event sponsored by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. “We’ve now taken them out, and they are out bigly. We’ve got to get into the Abraham Accords.”
The American leader has been pressing Israel and Saudi Arabia, the two biggest powers in the Middle East, for years to normalise ties as part of his Abraham Accords efforts. Significant headwinds remain, including Saudi Arabia’s insistence that there needs to be a credible path to a Palestinian state before it normalises commercial and diplomatic ties with Israel.
Meanwhile, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva said Tehran has agreed to “facilitate and expedite” humanitarian aid through the Strait of Hormuz, even as it endures strikes on its nuclear facilities.
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View AllAli Bahreini said Tehran accepted a request from the UN to let humanitarian aid and agricultural shipments move through the vital waterway, which usually handles a fifth of the world’s oil shipments and nearly a third of the world’s fertiliser trade. It is pertinent to note that the aid plan would be the first breakthrough at the shipping chokepoint after a month of war. While markets and governments have largely focused on blocked supplies of oil and natural gas, the restriction of fertiliser ingredients and trade threatens farming and food security around the world.
“This measure reflects Iran’s continued commitment to supporting humanitarian efforts and ensuring that essential aid reaches those in need without delay,” Bahreini said in a post on X. The UN earlier announced a task force to address the ripple effects the Iran war has had on aid delivery.
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