By Enas Alashray and Nayera Abdallah
CAIRO/DUBAI, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Yemen's Tehran-backed Houthis attacked energy facilities and cities in U.S. ally Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, wounding more than 70 people and underscoring the risk of the Iran conflict escalating into a wider regional war.
The six-month-old conflict in Iran has been marked by a cycle of pauses followed by periodic flare-ups since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on February 28 that were aimed at ending Tehran's nuclear programme,
halting its ability to attack its neighbours and curtailing its support for regional proxies.
The Houthi attacks came after Iran warned that energy infrastructure across the Gulf, including U.S. oil and gas interests, was vulnerable in the wake of a tit-for-tat exchange of attacks on ships in and around the Gulf last weekend. The attacks sent oil prices climbing to more than six-week highs.
Fires erupted at some energy facilities and several people were injured as firefighting and other emergency teams rushed to the scenes to contain the blazes, the Saudi energy ministry said.
At least 73 people were wounded in attacks on four cities in the south of Saudi Arabia, a spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said.
"The coalition will take all necessary operational measures to deter this terrorist militia and resolutely confronts its hostile approach," Colonel Turki al-Malki said in a statement on X.
The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen and much of the north, have been launching attacks towards Saudi Arabia since they declared a naval blockade against Riyadh in July, with strikes targeting its vessels in the Red Sea.
Disruptions to shipping through the Red Sea have added to worries about global oil and gas supplies with Iran continuing to limit shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz, with commodity vessel traffic slowing again this week.
'MARITIME EXCLUSION ZONE'
The Islamic Republic has vowed to announce a new restricted zone in the Gulf in the coming days, along with maps of a new shipping corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, though it was unclear when details would emerge.
The new restricted zone would begin from where the U.S. blockade of Iran begins and extend into areas of the Gulf, Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told state television on Sunday, adding that any vessel entering the area would be placed on an Iranian sanctions list.
On Tuesday, Rezaei re-issued dual economic and military threats on X.
"In recent days, Washington has received a clear warning from Iran’s new missiles. Economic warfare will be met by a maritime exclusion zone across the Persian Gulf to the blockade perimeter. The operational posture toward U.S. warships and bases has been fundamentally recalibrated," Rezaei said.
Rezaei was likely referring to the Qassem Basir ballistic missile that Iranian media reported was fired at U.S. warships near the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military said its warships evaded any missile attacks.
Despite major U.S. barrages that have degraded Iran's conventional forces and punished its already ailing economy, it has maintained missile and drone capabilities to threaten oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz without its permission and attack Gulf neighbours that are home to U.S. military bases.
About one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments passed through the strait before the war, which enabled Iran to threaten tankers from Gulf neighbours seeking to export oil and gas.
That has lifted energy prices at a time when the war, which opinion polls show is unpopular in the U.S., has increased the risks for President Donald Trump's Republican Party in November congressional elections.
"Oil prices will drop precipitously, like everything else is dropping (but more!), when we WIN the war with Iran. Three Dollars a gallon, but ultimately, below Two Dollars a gallon. It will all happen quickly, and Iran will never have a Nuclear Weapon," Trump said on social media.
(Reporting by Enas Alashray in Cairo; Addtional reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Eman Abouhassira in Dubai; Writing by Daniel Trotta and Lincoln Feast; Editing by Michael Perry and Stephen Coates)
