Trump cuts short Camp David stay as Iran war tensions surge: What we know so far
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US President Donald Trump abruptly cut short his weekend stay at Camp David, the official country retreat of the POTUS, and returned to the White House on Saturday, as the Iran war entered another potentially dangerous phase with attacks spreading deeper into Saudi Arabia and Tehran putting conditions on the table for ending the conflict.
Trump was scheduled to return to Washington on Sunday. The White House gave no reason for the change in schedule. The move came hours after Iran-backed Houthi forces targeted Saudi Arabia, including an attempted ballistic missile strike on Riyadh.
Houthis target Riyadh, Saudi oil infrastructure
Saudi Arabia said the Houthis fired a ballistic missile towards Riyadh, which was intercepted. The attack came after a fire was reported near King Khalid International Airport.
The Houthis also claimed attacks on “sensitive sites” in Riyadh and Aramco facilities in Yanbu. Saudi authorities said other attempted attacks were thwarted. The escalation marks a widening of the conflict beyond the direct US-Iran confrontation and puts additional pressure on a region critical to global energy supplies.
The US State Department has separately warned Americans in the Middle East to exercise heightened vigilance, citing the potential for rapid escalation, flight cancellations and airspace closures.
Iran puts conditions for ending war on table
Against the military escalation, Tehran has also indicated a possible diplomatic route.
Iranian security official Mohsen Rezaei said Tehran had conveyed conditions to Washington for ending the conflict. These include an end to the war on all fronts, the release or unfreezing of Iranian assets and an end to the US naval blockade.
Iran is now awaiting Washington’s response, according to reports.
The diplomatic opening comes just days after Trump told Axios he faced a “big decision” over whether to “annihilate” the Iranian regime, while indicating that he was weighing the next phase of the US campaign.
Strait of Hormuz remains the biggest risk
For global markets, the Strait of Hormuz remains the critical pressure point.
US Central Command said American forces have helped commercial vessels move more than 900 million barrels of crude through the strait since early May. Another US military update put the figure at around 1 billion barrels of oil and more than 2,000 commercial vessels escorted through the waterway.
But shipping remains severely disrupted. The Financial Times reported that container traffic through Hormuz has fallen 94%, with shipping companies rerouting cargo and facing higher insurance and transport costs.
Oil prices remain elevated, with Brent crude settling near $104 a barrel and WTI at $100.30 on Friday. Both benchmarks eased as China urged Iran to curb Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure, but remained above $100 amid continued supply and shipping risks.
What about the Pentagon “pizza rush”?
Social media has also seized on an unusual spike in activity at a pizza outlet near the Pentagon. The PizzINT tracker currently shows a 263% spike at Pizzato Pizza.
But that is an informal OSINT (open-source intelligence) indicator, not evidence of an impending US military operation. The tracker itself warns that correlation does not imply causation and says its readings should not be used for strategic decisions.