Three tankers ablaze in Hormuz as Saudi forces down Houthi missile

Three tankers are burning in and around the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran's Revolutionary Guard says they had no business being there. The IRGC claims all three were taking an 'unauthorised route' through the waterway, and Tehran's navy says one tanker struck a naval mine east of the strait after switching off its detection and navigation systems. Overnight reports described a second vessel hitting a mine in the southern corridor near the Omani coast and a supertanker catching fire while trying to exit through the eastern section. A tugboat sent to help also went up in flames, and the IRGC says it downed two Lucas drones.

Tehran's message to shipping is blunt. A navy statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency said Iran is telling ship owners 'for the umpteenth time' that Hormuz is unsafe and closed to vessels transiting without coordination. Iranian leaders, watching the US midterms from Tehran, say they see no difference between Democrats and Republicans and insist nothing has changed in the relationship between the two countries.

Further east, the Saudi-led coalition says its air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis towards the Medina region. Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki confirmed the intercept, according to Al Jazeera, after Saudi civil defence briefly warned residents of Yanbu — a major Red Sea oil export hub fed by the kingdom's East-West pipeline — before announcing the threat had passed.

Oil markets are swinging hard on the political news out of Washington. Brent crude futures climbed 78 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $95.40 a barrel by 09:00 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate rose 11 cents to $88.23 — a modest bounce after Brent tumbled nearly 9 percent in the previous session as Democratic gains in the US midterms rolled in. Analyst Susannah Streeter told Al Jazeera the 'release valve has been unscrewed,' with Democratic control of Congress potentially making it harder for Trump to escalate the conflict. UBS commodity analyst Giovanni Staunovo told Reuters the Middle East situation remains unresolved, which explains the small recovery.

Streeter cautioned that oil is still about a third more expensive than before the war, and renewed attacks or shipping disruptions in Hormuz could send prices surging again. 'The market is pricing in a greater chance of peace, but the threat of another sharp reversal has not gone away,' she said.

Elsewhere in the region, Yemen's internationally recognised government says it repelled a large-scale Houthi attack on the al-Aqrud front in Taiz governorate, claiming dozens of Houthi fighters killed or wounded and advances near Kahlan and Sabr. Fierce battles were also reported on the al-Maqatra front in Lahij. In Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera that Israeli gunfire killed a woman in al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, and a Palestinian child in Bureij camp, while a civilian toll including women and children was reported in Taiz. In Israel, President Isaac Herzog accepted last week's parliamentary election results and began consultations on forming a government — a blow to Netanyahu, whose coalition won 53 seats to rival Gadi Eisenkot's 48, with Arab-led parties taking a record 19.