Trump vows Iran will 'get a beating' as missile attack and US-Saudi strikes shatter brief truce

A fragile pause in hostilities between the United States and Iran collapsed this week after Tehran fired ballistic missiles at US forces and Washington responded with joint air strikes alongside Saudi Arabia against pro-Iranian groups in Iraq.

The Iranian missile barrage

On Tuesday night the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired several ballistic missiles in what US Central Command called an "attempted surprise attack on US forces based in the Middle East". The missiles were aimed at a base in Jordan, according to Axios and Jordanian officials. Jordan's army said it intercepted and shot down five missiles. Centcom stated all the projectiles were successfully intercepted and that American forces remained "vigilant". Iran's state-aligned Tasnim news agency separately reported that the Revolutionary Guards had also struck and halted three oil tankers trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump threatens retaliation

President Donald Trump, speaking by telephone with Fox News, unleashed a furious response.

We're going to beat the f****** sh** out of them. We'll be hitting them hard. They're going to get a beating.

Trump had abruptly called off a two‑week US bombing campaign against Iran only days earlier, saying "good talks" were under way. The missile strike ended that pause and pushed the conflict into a new phase. Iran confirmed it had targeted US bases in Jordan and ships in the strait, and it rejected an Omani proposal for joint regional management of the waterway, calling it "unreasonable". Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said a 50‑50 control arrangement with Oman would not serve Iran's interests.

American-Saudi strikes in Iraq

In the early hours of Wednesday, American and Saudi fighter jets struck what Centcom described as "several logistics and weapons sites" belonging to Iran‑allied militias in eastern Iraq. The operation was a direct response to more than 30 drone attacks ordered by the IRGC in the preceding 72 hours, including strikes on Saudi oil facilities in the kingdom's east. Saudi Arabia said its air defences had destroyed drones targeting those installations and that the attacks had been launched from Iraqi territory. The Hashd al‑Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces), a coalition of mainly Shia paramilitaries integrated into Iraq's security apparatus, reported that at least 20 of its members were killed and 32 wounded across seven provinces.

Baghdad reacts

Iraq's government found itself caught between its two powerful partners. Prime Minister Ali al‑Zaidi convened an emergency security meeting, while the presidency denounced the strikes as "an unacceptable attack and a flagrant violation of Iraq's sovereignty". Trump told Fox News the operation had been "coordinated" with the government in Baghdad, a claim the Iraqi government did not publicly confirm. In Mosul, footage showed crowds chanting Shia slogans and "Death to America!" as they carried the bodies of fighters from a hospital. One Iran‑backed group, Harakat Hezbollah al‑Nujaba, warned that US and Saudi forces would pay a "heavy price".

Markets and the Strait of Hormuz

Oil prices snapped back after having fallen during the truce. At 03:35 GMT on Wednesday, West Texas Intermediate was up 4.00 percent at $82.43 a barrel and Brent, the global benchmark, up 4.14 percent at $87.57. Later in the day Brent was reported around 7 percent higher, at just under $90. The renewed fighting threatens to keep the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil passes, largely blocked. Iran's rejection of Oman's proposal for joint management leaves the chokepoint under unilateral Iranian pressure.