The Iran war is spreading
Today, Explained

The Iran war is spreading

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 15, 202625 min
  • Politics

Saudi Arabia's dreams of becoming a global financial hub are running into the reality of regional war. This episode was produced by Ariana Aspuru, edited by Jolie Myers, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by David Tatasciore and Bridger Dunnagan, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Flames burn at a facility belonging to Saudi oil giant Aramco south of Riyadh on October 3, 2026. Aramco, majority-owned by the Saudi state, has come under attack from the Houthi authorities targeting the kingdom as part of the war in Yemen. Photo by AFP via Getty Images. Listen to Today...

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Over the weekend, Yemen's Houthis launched missiles at an international airport in Saudi Arabia. This was almost unprecedented in terms of Houthi attacks targeting Saudi civilian facilities. And so what we're looking at now is a situation that is rapidly escalating and threatening

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to put the Middle East into yet another conflict spiral. Saudi Arabia responded by raining missiles down on Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition launched new airstrikes on oil facilities across Houthi-controlled Yemen. And then on Wednesday the Houthis responded with an attack on the

0:32

headquarters of Aramco. And certainly listening to the Houthi military spokesman today outlining that was their attack and they are vowing more of them. Saudi Arabia is famously not in Iran, Yemen even less so, but the Houthis are tight with Iran. So we're gonna ask if this escalating war has to do with the

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