A missile attack on King Khalid international airport in Riyadh on Saturday has forced US President Donald Trump to reconsider the diplomatic and political strategy he had designed to carry him into next month’s midterm elections, according to analysis published by the Guardian.

The newspaper characterised the strike as “reckless”, saying it did not just export the death and misery inside Yemen to Saudi Arabia, but also disrupted Trump’s political calculations. According to the Guardian, the attack landed just as the president’s new approach was being unveiled.

Trump’s plan, the Guardian says, had only been set out on Saturday. It centred on blaming what he described as “a world problem” – spiralling diesel prices – on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pointing to Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries as the cause of rising costs.

Alongside that messaging, the report says, Trump intended to keep the political temperature down on the conflicts in Iran and Yemen until after the midterm vote. The Guardian characterised the Iran conflict as a “war of choice” and described the Yemen situation as its spillover.

The strike on Riyadh, the Guardian suggests, has left that approach looking unsustainable, as a direct hit near Saudi Arabia’s capital draws fresh attention to a conflict the president had hoped to keep out of the headlines.

The account is drawn from a single Guardian analysis article. Details including casualties, the extent of any damage, and official Saudi, US or Houthi statements on the attack are not established in the available source.