Iran's foreign ministry said the country would meet with Gulf states in Oman on Monday to discuss the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which the Islamic republic has blockaded during the Middle East war.

Saudi authorities said drones launched from Iraq led to the temporary closure of a crucial oil export route used to bypass the lockdown of the Strait of Hormuz.

Riyadh has increased its use of the East-West pipeline, which links Abqaiq, near the Gulf, to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, since the start of the Middle East war to bypass the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday that pressure on his country from the United States had reached a critical and dangerous stage, speaking in India ahead of a Brics summit.

An adviser to Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei called the advance in Yemen by Tehran-backed Houthi fighters a "resounding victory" on Friday, after they seized a key island in the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait.

A group in Yemen attempted to use Anthropic's Claude chatbot to build guided rockets and missiles, the U.S. firm has revealed, as Iran-backed Houthi rebels are on the offensive in the country.

Six missiles struck the port on Friday in Yemen's strategic Red Sea city of Mocha, now under Houthi control, a local official told AFP, without specifying where they came from.

Saudi Arabia launched two airstrikes on Friday targeting the airport of the strategic city of Mocha, now under Houthi control, according to the Iran-backed group's Al-Masirah TV channel.

Iran's government on Friday called for an end to Saudi Arabia's blockade of Yemen and the immediate resumption of talks, in its first public statement since Iran-backed Houthi rebels entered a key Yemeni port and intensified their threat to a key global shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

In a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, Iran's foreign ministry said Yemen's sovereignty must be respected and its problems cannot be resolved through a blockade or military alliances.

In recent weeks, the United States has succeeded in loosening Iran's grip over the Strait of Hormuz while virtually shutting down Iran's own oil exports, accelerating its economic free fall.

But the war launched by the U.S. and Israel in February — intended to last a few weeks — is still far from over, and the stalemate is costly for both sides. An agreement reached in June quickly crumbled, with no sign of diplomatic progress since then. Low-level fighting persists, and the U.S. does not seem to have an exit strategy.

Algeria said Thursday it was cutting diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates following years of tension, with Algiers accusing Abu Dhabi of interfering in national and regional affairs.

"Algeria has decided to cut diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, following the exhaustion of all means to preserve bilateral relations," Algeria's state television announced.