US and Saudi Arabia launch joint strikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq after Iranian missile attack

Iranian missile attack on US forces

Late Tuesday, Iran fired multiple ballistic missiles at US troops in the Middle East, the US military said. Air defenses intercepted all projectiles and no casualties were reported. US Central Command called the strike a "surprise attack." According to Axios, the missiles flew toward a US base in Jordan. The salvo was the first direct Iranian ballistic missile attack on American positions since the most recent ceasefire, marking a sharp escalation.

Joint US-Saudi retaliation in Iraq

Within hours, American and Saudi fighter jets bombed logistics hubs and weapons depots in eastern Iraq. Centcom said the targets belonged to "terrorists allied with Iran," militias that had been "instructed" by Iran's Revolutionary Guards to strike US forces and Saudi energy infrastructure. The groups had launched more than two dozen drone attacks in recent days, Centcom added.

The Revolutionary Guards and their terrorist proxies must stop these attacks to avoid further US military responses.

Saudi Arabia's defense ministry confirmed its own "qualitative precision strikes" and framed the operation as self-defense. The ministry said the militias hit were those behind drone assaults on the kingdom's oil facilities. The joint action followed the recent signing of a US-Saudi nuclear cooperation agreement, underscoring Riyadh's closer alignment with Washington after years of balancing between the US and Iran.

Drone campaign against Saudi Arabia

For two consecutive days, Saudi air defenses intercepted drones launched from Iraq. The defense ministry attributed them to "militias linked to Iran." On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Saidi ordered security forces to investigate after Riyadh's accusations. The pro-Iranian Shiite militia umbrella group Islamic Resistance in Iraq rejected the drone claims as "fabrications." It said Saudi Arabia was trying to justify its inability to respond to "painful Yemeni attacks" by the Houthis. The group warned of a "harsh" response if Saudi Arabia carried out operations in Iraq.

Iran seizes three oil tankers

On Wednesday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced its navy had attacked and stopped three oil tankers in the Arabian Gulf. The IRGC said the ships had ignored warnings and were traveling on an "unsafe and illegal route." The statement, which was cut off, said the Guards maintained "full co...", an apparent reference to control over the vessels. The seizure injected a maritime threat into the crisis, raising the risk of disruptions to oil shipping lanes.

Regional spillover

The Iran-aligned Houthi militia in Yemen claimed an attack on a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea, adding another front. Saudi Arabia had previously sought a cautious balance with Tehran, but the repeated strikes on its energy infrastructure appear to have ended that restraint. Observers warned that the cycle of retaliation could draw in more countries, with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq threatening a harsh response and Centcom vowing further military action if attacks continue.