Symbolic imageIran strikes US base in Jordan; US and Saudi jets hit militia sites in Iraq
Iran fired ballistic missiles at a US military base in Jordan on Tuesday, breaking a pause of several days in the exchange with Washington; CENTCOM says its forces intercepted them. A day later US and Saudi fighter aircraft struck Iran-aligned logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq, after Saudi air defences shot down drones aimed at oil facilities. The Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces say eight of their members were killed.
What happened
A US official told the Jerusalem Post that Iran launched at least four ballistic missiles at a US military base in Jordan and called it "a major attack". CENTCOM said US forces intercepted the missiles fired at American troops in the region, ending a lull of several days that followed 13 days of strikes on Iran, as Le Monde and Global Times report. Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said its air defences intercepted and destroyed several drones launched from Iraqi territory at petroleum facilities in the Eastern Province and the Riyadh region, and attributed them to Iran-aligned militias. On 29 July US and Saudi fighter aircraft then struck multiple logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq; CENTCOM described this as a response to more than 30 drone attacks directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps within 72 hours, carried out in coordination with Riyadh. The Popular Mobilisation Forces say eight of their members were killed and four wounded when their headquarters were hit. Iran's state broadcaster IRIB, citing a military source, denied any Iranian involvement in attacks on Saudi Arabia from the territory of other countries, and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq called the Saudi accusations "fabrications".
The view from outside
Al Jazeera in Qatar and The National in the UAE lead with the dead in Iraq and with Baghdad's sovereignty complaint rather than with the Iranian missile salvo. China's Global Times reproduces the CENTCOM statement almost verbatim, including its wording about Iran-directed attacks, and adds Tehran's denial without further comment.
What could happen next
The pause that had held since Monday, when mediation via Qatar, Pakistan and a parallel Omani channel was being organised, is over, and the confrontation has widened to a second front between Riyadh and armed groups in Iraq. Saudi Arabia says it does not seek escalation but will answer any aggression, while the Islamic Resistance in Iraq threatens a "harsh response" to further Saudi action. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered his security agencies to investigate the drone launches and is expected in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, with Riyadh demanding that Baghdad stop its territory being used as a launch pad. Oil prices rose on supply-disruption concerns after the surprise Iranian attack, reversing Monday's fall below $88 a barrel, and Republican senators including Tom Cotton and Joni Ernst are pressing the White House to resume and intensify strikes.
Iran: Tehran fired the missiles at the base in Jordan but denies, via state broadcaster IRIB, that it organised drone attacks on Saudi Arabia from the territory of other countries.
United States and Saudi Arabia: CENTCOM and the Saudi defence ministry say the joint strikes in eastern Iraq were a proportionate answer to more than 30 IRGC-directed drone attacks on US forces and Saudi energy infrastructure.
Iraq: Baghdad promises to prevent its territory from being used for attacks on neighbours and has opened an investigation, while calling the strikes on its soil a matter of sovereignty.
Also involved