Ultimate decision-making in Iran rests with Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since an air strike killed his father and predecessor on February 28, the first day of U.S.-Israeli air strikes on Iran.
State media said on Sunday that President Masoud Pezeshkian had met Khamenei in late July and a paramilitary leader promised footage of the supreme leader, who was reportedly injured in the strike that killed his father, out in public.
The United Arab Emirates said on Saturday that Iran had attacked a ship affiliated to its state oil company. There was no immediate comment from Iran, where the powerful Revolutionary Guards have attacked ships in the past, saying they had not coordinated their passage through the strait with Iran.
Iranian strikes on Strait of Hormuz shipping have been coupled with increased attacks by its Yemen-based allies, the Houthis, who have targeted ships at another oil chokepoint on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis also declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea last month in response to what they said was a Saudi siege on them in Yemen, an allegation denied by Riyadh, which backs Yemen's internationally recognised government.
The group said they had attacked Saudi Aramco's Jazan refinery on Sunday, two days after the kingdom signed a defence pact with Sunni Muslim allies Turkey and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability from the U.S.-Israeli war on Shi'ite Iran.
The Saudi energy ministry said a fire had broken out at the refinery but was later extinguished with no injuries and authorities were dealing with the incident, without giving a cause.
The Houthis used a drone to target the refinery, military spokesperson Yahya Saree posted on X. They had struck Aramco sites before in Jazan, which processes 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
It was not clear whether or how either Pakistan or Turkey would join in any Saudi response to the latest attack.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the new alliance was not directed against Iran or any other country, but rather served as a general pledge to support security. The allies would decide through consultations what degree, form, and format of support they would ask for in the event of an attack, he said.
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