Iran’s Pezeshkian: ‘We are not at war with Saudi Arabia’

JUST IN: Iran's President Pezeshkian says Tehran is 'not at war with Saudi Arabia' and that the Houthis have 'their own issues,' calling for regional cooperation amid the escalating Red Sea and pipeline crisis.

Iran's president just publicly cut the Houthis loose. Sort of.

Masoud Pezeshkian went on television in Tehran and said flatly that Iran is not at war with Saudi Arabia, and that the Houthis have, in his words, their own issues. You can see him here making the case for regional cooperation instead of confrontation.

That's a striking line from Tehran right now. The Red Sea is on fire, a drone just hit Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, and Riyadh has spent years insisting the Houthis are Iran's arm in Yemen. Now the man in charge in Tehran is holding them at a distance, on the record, while asking the region to work together on security.

Either Iran genuinely wants off this escalation ladder, or it wants everyone to believe it does before the next strike lands. Riyadh has to price both. And so does every ship still willing to run the Red Sea.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.