IRGC will target US ships in Indian Ocean if fighting resumes, official says

Thee United Arab Emirates on Thursday suspended flights by Iranian air carriers to and from the country until further notice, according to the state-run WAM news agency.

In a statement carried by WAM, the General Civil Aviation Authority said that "the decision was made in light of the US ban imposed on Iranian airlines from using airports in various countries around the world."

The authority said it will continue to update relevant authorities and the public on any developments until air traffic between the UAE and Iran returns to normal.

-ABC News' Desiree Adib

Saudi forces intercepted six Houthi ballistic missiles on Thursday, a military spokesperson said, following safety alerts issued for five regions of the country.

Col. Turki Al-Malki, the spokesperson for Saudi-led coalition forces operating in support of the internationally-backed Yemeni government, said in posts to X that air defenses "thwarted an attempt to target Taif and Yanbu," two of the five regions put under safety alert.

"Escalations and violations by the terrorist Houthi militia will be dealt with firmly," he added.

The Saudi General Directorate of Civil Defence on Thursday issued safety alerts for five regions amid continued cross-border hostilities with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The directorate posted safety alerts to X for the regions of Yanbu, Tabuk, Taif, Mecca and Jeddah.

All warnings were lifted soon after they were announced, with the directorate saying that the "danger has passed."

Senior Iranian figures praised Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's Wednesday address to the United Nations General Assembly, in which he said Tehran "will never bow" to U.S. threats.

Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, wrote in a post on X that Pezeshkian's speech constituted "a slap in the face" to the U.S., after President Donald Trump said he was mulling a "big decision" at to whether to make a deal with Tehran or "quickly annihilate" the country.

"As long as Iran's waters, land and skies remain under threat, no aggressor nation -- nor any supporter of such aggressors -- shall enjoy security," Abdollahi said.

The speaker of the Iranian parliament and Tehran's chief negotiator, Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, said in a post to X that Pezeshkian "spoke not just for a government, but for a 3,000-year-old civilization. He was the powerful voice of courage, resilience and strength for the Islamic Republic of Iran."