Iran-backed Houthis killed at least 12 people including one American in a missile strike on Riyadh’s main airport, an attack President Trump says the United States may join Saudi Arabia in answering.
A missile slammed into the complex housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday afternoon, killing at least 12 people and injuring 309 others, several of them critically. CBS News reported the dead included one American citizen along with four Saudis, two Bangladeshis, and one person each from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, and Sudan.
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation confirmed the nationalities and said the wounded were being treated at multiple hospitals. The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen blamed the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels for the strike. Airport operations were suspended, entrances blocked, and lights dimmed as authorities extended the closure into Sunday.
The attack marks a sharp escalation in a week of Houthi strikes on Saudi airports, military sites, and energy infrastructure. Those strikes followed a major Saudi-led offensive against the rebels in Yemen. President Trump said earlier Saturday he was evaluating whether the United States should join Saudi strikes against the Houthis.
Trump says the U.S. may join the fight and will decide fast
Asked about the possibility of American involvement after the airport attack, Trump told reporters the decision would come quickly.
"We may. We're gonna look at it. We just found out about the recent attack [on the airport]. So we'll make a decision, we move very quickly."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the assault in a social media post that named the Houthis as terrorists and noted the American death.
"The United States strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorist Houthis, including today's strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that took numerous innocent lives, including an American citizen."
A State Department spokesperson said the Trump administration remains in close contact with its Saudi partners. The pattern of Iran-linked missile threats against U.S. and allied interests has already forced protective moves, including when the Secret Service smuggled Trump out of Turkey amid earlier Iranian missile warnings.
Houthis claim the deadly Saturday strike and hit the airport again
The New York Post reported that the Houthis claimed responsibility for the Saturday missile attack as retaliation for Saudi bombing inside Yemen. The same outlet noted Trump planned to speak with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman while weighing U.S. military support.
FlightAware recorded at least 291 flight cancellations at the Riyadh airport over a 24-hour span. Flightradar24 tracked diversions as countries including the United States, Britain, Germany, Australia, and Canada warned their citizens to avoid the facility. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency expanded guidance on Saudi airspace, warning that missile and drone interceptions create a higher risk of misidentifying civilian aircraft.
Just The News reported a fresh projectile strike on a passenger terminal at the same Riyadh airport on Sunday, one day after the deadly Houthi missile attack that killed 12 and wounded more than 300. The outlet confirmed the Houthis had claimed the Saturday assault along with other recent attacks.
Earlier in the week the Houthis claimed separate strikes on King Khalid that killed three Saudis, including a pilot. Two regional officials said Thursday’s attacks damaged three planes on the ground; Saudi Arabia’s national carrier reported one of its aircraft hit while empty of passengers. Hours after Saturday’s strike, the Saudi energy ministry continued promoting a major international energy conference scheduled to open in Riyadh on Sunday.
Iran’s proxies keep testing the region’s red lines
Breitbart reported the Saturday strike as Saudi Arabia’s deadliest attack in more than a decade, with direct hits on the terminals 3 and 4 complex that forced the suspension of operations. The piece framed the assault inside the wider Houthi campaign that intensified after the Saudi-backed counteroffensive in Yemen, and noted Trump’s public openness to joining military action.
United Nations special envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg called the Saturday strike a “dangerous escalation” that poses “a grave threat to regional security.” The Houthis, who control large parts of Yemen and have repeatedly targeted Red Sea shipping, earlier Saturday accused Saudi Arabia of striking Sanaa International Airport in the rebel-held capital. They also warned global airlines against operating in Saudi airspace.
American forces have already absorbed Iranian and proxy attacks elsewhere in the region, including when Iran struck a U.S. air base in Jordan hours after a presidential warning to Tehran. U.S. commanders have likewise repositioned assets after suspected Iran-linked plots, such as the decision to return a bomber fleet from RAF Fairford.
An anonymous regional official said the Saturday missile struck the domestic-flights complex. Thick black smoke and flames rose from the airport in video footage dated Oct. 9, 2026. Saudi civil aviation authorities posted that the suspension of operations would run through midnight, then extended the shutdown the following day.
The human cost landed on ordinary travelers and airport workers from multiple countries. One American is among the dead. Hundreds more fill hospital beds. Commercial aviation through the kingdom’s main international gateway remains disrupted while the energy conference still goes forward.
Iran’s Houthi proxies just turned a busy civilian airport into a mass-casualty zone. Weak responses only invite the next missile.
