Iran says talks with Saudi Arabia ongoing as Yemen fighting intensifies

Last week, top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan met Iranian officials in Tehran, the first high-level contact between Iran and the three nations since August. Riyadh said the visit was intended to open negotiating channels to prevent the return of military escalation, as fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis had intensified in recent weeks.

Houthi attacks on the kingdom escalated as the militia advanced toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping chokepoint on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthis have also attacked Saudi oil facilities and airports including Riyadh's international airport, disrupting flights and oil exports and drawing Saudi airstrikes on Yemen in response, according to the report.

The US-Israeli war on Iran started in late February, and fighting has since spread to Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Yemen has been mired in a civil war since the Houthis pushed the internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government out of the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.