President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that Washington could end its war with Iran quickly, then questioned whether a fast finish or a slow wind-down is the better path. He said oil is still flowing through the Strait of Hormuz and that the US is getting what it wants. No decision was announced. ABC News reported this week that US and Israeli officials are drawing up plans for possible renewed strikes after next month's midterm elections. Crude markets have already reacted: Brent jumped nearly 4% to about $117 a barrel on Friday, close to its wartime peak, while West Texas Intermediate moved back above $100.
A late-night attack on Dammam airport killed two people and injured eight, Saudi aviation authorities said, a day after Washington told nonessential US embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia. Houthi attacks on Saudi airports and oil sites have reached an unprecedented scale this month, with 22 people killed at airports. Riyadh has shut its main airport and postponed a major investment conference. Iran's Revolutionary Guard warned it would strike US bases across the region if American warships keep escorting vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, the route that carried a fifth of world oil before the war began in February.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin at the Constantine Palace in St Petersburg and asked him to consider resuming US-mediated trilateral talks with Ukraine. Russia released detained US teacher Stephen Hubbard before the meeting, and Putin offered help on Iran and fertiliser supplies. Witkoff came from talks in Oslo with Volodymyr Zelensky and European and NATO officials, which a US official called meaningful progress on security guarantees and a post-war economic plan. Zelensky says he hopes to discuss ending the war at a three-way meeting with Putin and Trump. Kyiv and its allies worry Washington is stepping back from Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says the Pentagon is delaying interceptor missiles that European countries have already paid for, and that the shipment is waiting for a signature from US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Several European states have offered Patriot interceptors from their own stocks but still need US approval to transfer them. The complaint comes as White House envoy Steve Witkoff travels to Oslo to meet Zelenskiy and European leaders, then on to Moscow. Kyiv is also unsettled by Trump's plan to meet Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in China next month.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would join a three-way meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping, but that the talks would focus on nuclear weapons rather than the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin said the idea came up in recent discussions, and next month's APEC summit in Shenzhen has emerged as a possible venue. No meeting has been fixed. Trump also renewed criticism of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, saying it was time for someone else to negotiate on Ukraine's behalf. A joint meeting of the three leaders would be unprecedented.
Ukrainian drone strikes on St Petersburg killed at least one person and injured five, according to the city's governor, with fires at the St Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchi oil depot and warehouses in Kolpino. Flights were restricted at the main airport, an Ozon logistics hub burned and VK said its data centre in the Leningrad region was attacked. The regional governor said 145 drones were downed and about 20,000 people lost power. Moscow said 1,015 Ukrainian drones were neutralised overnight. President Zelenskyy said Russian strikes killed two people in Ukraine and that Moscow had hit energy sites 76 times since a US-brokered energy ceasefire was announced a week ago.
Russia launched 332 drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight, and Ukrainian officials said at least eight people were killed and about 60 injured. Strikes hit two shopping centres and energy infrastructure in ten regions, cutting power to more than a million people as winter approaches. Governors in Vinnytsia and Odesa reported injuries and damage to civilian and critical infrastructure. The attacks came in a week when relations between Kyiv and Washington deteriorated, after President Trump blamed Ukraine for high US diesel prices and announced a deal to buy Russian fuel.
Brent crude touched $110 a barrel on Friday for the first time since 20 May, rising 3.7 percent as attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and continued strikes on Saudi and Russian energy sites kept supply tight. At least nine tankers and cargo ships have been attacked in the strait in a week, and crude exports through the waterway are running at about 70 percent of prewar levels. Traffic is shifting to alternative Gulf and Indian Ocean ports, with delays building at Indian gateways. Higher freight and insurance costs are feeding into fuel and food prices weeks before US midterm elections.
Missiles fired by Yemen's Houthi movement hit Saudi Aramco's headquarters in Dhahran, starting a fire in part of the complex and damaging offices used by the oil company's chief executive and other senior staff, two regional officials said. Four people were injured in Riyadh by debris from intercepted missiles. The Saudi-led coalition struck a fuel depot near Sanaa and an oil facility in Hodeida province, where the Houthi-run health ministry said two people died. The Houthis called the launches retaliation for Saudi aggression and warned civilians to leave areas near Aramco sites and airports.
Russian forces hit Kyiv with ballistic missiles and drones on 13 October, striking the Darnytsia combined heat and power plant and a residential building. Six people were killed in the capital and dozens wounded, and about 600,000 people lost electricity. Ukraine's Air Force said it received no warning from partners about missile launches from Russian territory, so no alarm was issued in time. Power plants in Kharkiv region, Zhytomyr, Sumy and Chernihiv were also hit. The attacks came days after US President Donald Trump said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to halt strikes on energy systems. Rescue work continued through the night in the capital.