Iran fires missile at US base in Jordan; US, Saudi forces strike Iran-backed militias in Iraq

Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said several of its official headquarters across the country were struck in what it described as attacks by US and Saudi forces early Wednesday.

In a statement, the PMF said the strikes killed and wounded a number of its members and caused damage to several buildings and other property. It condemned the attacks as a "highly dangerous escalation" and a violation of Iraq's sovereignty, saying they targeted the country's official security institutions.

The group added that Iraqi authorities were monitoring the situation and that efforts to determine the full extent of casualties and damage were still under way.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they struck and halted three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian media reported Wednesday, despite a lull in fighting between the Washington and Tehran.

The Guards' navy said "three violating oil tankers, which ignored our warnings and continued sailing an unsafe and illegal route, were struck and brought to a halt", the Tasnim News agency reported.

Saudi Arabian forces, in coordination with the US Central Command, carried out targeted strikes Wednesday against sites linked to Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, the Saudi Ministry of Defense announced, in retaliation for recent drone attacks on the kingdom’s petroleum infrastructure.

The operation marks a significant escalation in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran-aligned groups operating from Iraqi territory.

Both Riyadh and Washington emphasised that the action was limited and aimed at deterrence rather than broader conflict.

In a statement, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, the official spokesman for the Saudi Ministry of Defence, said the strikes followed the interception and destruction of multiple drones that had targeted oil facilities in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province and the capital region of Riyadh.

Those attacks were launched from Iraq by “terrorist militias loyal to Iran,” according to the ministry.

Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said on Tuesday that vessels belonging to any country or company accepting compensation from Iran's frozen assets would not be allowed to transit the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran's state-run broadcaster IRIB.

A spokesman for the headquarters rejected US President Donald Trump's statement that ships damaged by Iran in the Gulf would be compensated using Iran's frozen funds.

He said Iran believes the vessels were damaged because of insecurity created by the US military and their use of what he described as an illegal and unsafe shipping route south of the Strait of Hormuz, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Oil prices jumped more than three percent in early Asian trade on Wednesday after the US military said it had intercepted multiple missiles launched by Iran.

At around 0015 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 3.67 percent at $82.17 a barrel, while North Sea Brent crude had gained 3.39 percent to $86.94.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched multiple ballistic missiles early on Wednesday at a US military base in Jordan, the US Central Command said. If confirmed, it's the first direct Iranian strike on American forces in the country since a brief pause in US airstrikes. All the missiles were successfully intercepted, with no casualties or damage reported, CentCom said in a statement.

The attack occurred at about 1:45 pm Gulf Standard Time on Wednesday (July 29, 2026), according to the US military’s report of the launch time at 5:45 pm Eastern Time on Tuesday.

The targeted facility was likely Muwaffaq Salti Air Base near Azraq in northeastern Jordan, which has hosted US forces and aircraft and was struck in earlier Iranian attacks this month that killed American service members. 

Videos circulating on social media appeared to show missile launches from central-western Iran and intercepts by air defence systems, including US Patriot batteries or Jordanian defences.

The United Arab Emirates has condemned in the strongest terms the hostile attack targeting the brotherly Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with a drone.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) affirmed that this hostile attack constitutes a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of Jordan and a threat to its security and stability.

The Ministry reiterated the UAE’s full solidarity with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and its support for all measures aimed at safeguarding its security and stability.

Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said late Tuesday that its forces had intercepted drones targeting oil facilities in the east, blaming Iran-backed groups in Iraq for the launches for a second day running.

The ministry's spokesman, Turki al-Maliki, said that "aerial defences intercepted and destroyed several drones that attempted to target oil installations", adding that "these new terrorist attacks were launched from Iraqi territory and carried out by militias linked to Iran".

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