A Houthi strike kills one at Dammam airport, Iran's Revolutionary Guard says tankers are burning and mined in the Gulf, and oil jumps past 111 dollars

The attacks are no longer aimed only at oil fields. On Wednesday a strike hit King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, a civilian airport in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, and killed at least one person and wounded eight others. A day earlier, debris from a drone intercepted over Saudi Aramco's Shaybah oil field killed two expatriate workers, a Filipino and a Nepali, and wounded two more. The State Department has ordered non emergency American government employees and their families out of Saudi Arabia. Spokesman Tommy Pigott said the order covers Saudi Arabia only, and he called a Reuters report that Washington was preparing departures across the Gulf inaccurate. Four US officials told Reuters that missions in other Gulf states will also be ordering family members to leave. Pigott did not address changes at missions outside Saudi Arabia.

On Thursday the fight widened to the sea. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said four vessels involved in illegal oil transfers in the northern Persian Gulf were hit simultaneously and caught fire after its forces tracked them on Wednesday. The Guard said three more vessels collided with mines west of the Strait of Hormuz, and it warned the American military that continued provocations could bring a wider response against its regional bases. Explosions were also heard in Sirik in southern Iran on Wednesday, Iranian media reported, with the nature and origin of the blasts unknown. The claims from Tehran could not be independently verified on Thursday morning.

The market moved on the news. Brent crude futures climbed 2.82 dollars, or 2.59 percent, to 111.64 dollars a barrel on Thursday morning, close to a five month high, as of October 22, and US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 2.24 dollars to 99.39 dollars. "Oil prices remain well bid, with ICE Brent back above 110 dollars per barrel this morning following additional deadly attacks on Saudi Arabia," ING analysts wrote. American crude stocks fell by 3.06 million barrels to 412.5 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, a draw three times larger than analysts had expected.

Behind the evacuation sits a larger plan. The New York Times reported that the American and Israeli militaries have drawn up specific plans for renewed strikes on Iran after the November 3 midterm elections, a short but intensive operation aimed at Iran's energy infrastructure, nuclear installations and missile and drone arsenal. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an unannounced visit to Israel this week, and the two militaries have stepped up exercises, including flights over Iraq to practice strike maneuvers. President Donald Trump has not approved new strikes and has repeatedly vetoed a return to major combat this year, the Times said. The war that began with American and Israeli attacks on Iran in late February is now in its eighth month, and Washington had only recently returned diplomatic staff to the Gulf after pulling them out at the start.

Saudi Arabia is asking Washington for more missile interceptors, and the request is running into a shortage everyone in the region shares. "I also talked to Saudi Arabia today; they'd like interceptors. Israel would like interceptors. We would like interceptors. Every country in the world would like interceptors," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday, calling the weapons probably the most in demand product in the defense field. Britain said on Tuesday that Royal Air Force Typhoon jets will fly defensive patrols over Saudi cities, and Egypt has pledged the kingdom its support.

The picture with this story is an illustration.