Saudi forces down '12 drones in its airspace' after Iran vows to target oil resources

Saudi Arabia has been targeted by drones in recent days, with authorities confirming they had shot down several headed towards the crucial Shaybah oil field this week.

Saudi Arabia intercepted dozens of drones entering its airspace, the defence ministry said on Friday, as Iran carries out attacks on oil-rich Gulf countries in response to US-Israeli strikes.

"Twelve drones were intercepted and destroyed after entering Saudi airspace," a spokesperson for the defence ministry posted on X.

A wave of nine and then seven drones had also been shot down, they said in separate statements.

Saudi Arabia has been targeted by drones in recent days, with authorities confirming they had shot down several headed towards the crucial Shaybah oil field this week.

Israel also came under attack early Friday from missiles launched by Iran, with the Israeli military saying its air defences were working to intercept them.

The International Energy Agency has warned that the Middle East war could lead to "the largest supply disruption" in the industry's history, but US President Donald Trump wrote on social media that defeating Iran's "evil empire" was more important than crude prices.

Trump has faced intense political pressure as the global economic fallout of the crisis has mounted, and he has given mixed messages as to when the US campaign might end.

Iran has unleashed waves of drone and missile strikes against neighbouring states hosting US military assets, including Saudi Arabia, whose defence ministry said Friday that its forces had intercepted a total of 28 drones.

The previous day, Iranian security chief Ali Larijani took aim at Trump, saying that the war "cannot be won with a few tweets" and that "we will not relent until making you sorry for this grave miscalculation."

His comments came after Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, issued a defiant statement, his first since being appointed Sunday after the death of his father and predecessor Ali Khamenei in a strike.

Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly wounded in the strike, has yet to appear publicly since his nomination, and his message calling for vengeance was read by an anchor on state television.

"The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must definitely be used," Khamenei said of the waterway through which a fourth of the world's seaborne oil trade usually transits.

The strait, which also normally accounts for a fifth of the world's liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, lies off Iran and is just 54 kilometres (34 miles) wide at its narrowest point.