CAIRO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Iran launched a barrage of missiles at American forces in the Middle East early Wednesday as the U.S. partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Tehran-backed militias in neighboring Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters.<\/p>\n
The flare-up on multiple fronts, after several days of relative calm, raised the risk of a return to all-out war. It also underscored the difficulty of winding down a five-month conflict that has jolted the world economy and is unpopular among Americans. The fighting was also likely to add to concerns that the U.S. is further drawing down already diminished stockpiles of sophisticated munitions needed to defend its bases and allies.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia had accused the Iraqi militias of firing drones against its oil facilities over the past two days. An umbrella group of Iraqi militias initially denied the allegations, while another Iran-backed group \u2014 the Houthi rebels in Yemen \u2014 said they had attacked Saudi energy facilities as part of a separate but related conflict.<\/p>\n
Before the latest eruption, mediators had expressed optimism about bringing the U.S. and Iran back to the negotiating table. An interim agreement collapsed in recent weeks over renewed fighting in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy supplies that Iranian attacks have again effectively closed.<\/p>\n
A regional official said mediators are \u201cstill trying with both sides\u201d to restore calm and get the ceasefire back on track. He gave no details on whether progress was being made and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door diplomacy.<\/p>\n
The renewed hostilities sent oil prices spiking. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 3.1% to $84.58 a barrel.<\/p>\n
Jordan intercepts missiles and U.S. strikes militias in Iraq<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it fired ballistic missiles at Jordan\u2019s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, a key U.S. military hub for the region, in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency.<\/p>\n
Jordan\u2019s military said five Iranian missiles had been intercepted and destroyed. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.<\/p>\n
The U.S. military later announced that American and Saudi fighter aircraft had struck multiple logistics and weapons sites in eastern Iraq in response to the alleged drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Defense Ministry warned that it \u201cdoes not seek escalation but will respond to any aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of primarily Shiite, Iran-backed armed groups that is officially under the command of the Iraqi military, said at least 20 fighters were killed and 32 others wounded in the overnight strikes.<\/p>\n
The groups making up the PMF joined the fight against the Islamic State group after it seized large sections of Iraq in 2014. The Iraqi government later designated it as an \u201cindependent military formation\u201d within the armed forces, but in practice the militias have significant autonomy, and some have attacked U.S. facilities.<\/p>\n
The office of Iraqi President Nizar Amidi condemned Wednesday\u2019s U.S.-Saudi airstrikes, calling them \u201can unacceptable attack and a blatant violation of Iraq\u2019s sovereignty, targeting its official security institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iraq\u2019s National Security Council condemned the strikes, saying in a statement that they had been carried out \u201cwhile the Iraqi government was in contact with relevant parties to investigate and address all the concerns raised by the Saudi and American sides regarding the targeting of Saudi territory.\u201d It said \u201ca number of innocent people\u201d had been killed and wounded.<\/p>\n
A visit to Saudi Arabia by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi that had been scheduled for Thursday was postponed indefinitely, said two Iraqi government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.<\/p>\n
Attacks on Saudi oil facilities could worsen global energy crisis<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia is also locked in a renewed conflict with the Houthis. The rebels have declared a blockade of Saudi shipping that could choke off another crucial trade route in the Middle East running through the Bab el-Mandeb strait between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the Houthis said they had launched drones targeting oil facilities used to transport oil across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea port city of Yanbu, a key bypass for Saudi exports blocked by Iran\u2019s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
The rebels said their attack was in response to a Saudi drone they said had breached Yemen\u2019s airspace.<\/p>\n
Planet Labs satellite imagery from Monday analyzed by The Associated Press showed damage to Saudi Aramco\u2019s Abqaiq oil processing facility in the kingdom\u2019s east. The massive facility is capable of processing approximately 7 million barrels of crude oil per day.<\/p>\n
In 2019, attacks on Abqaiq claimed by the Houthis disrupted production of 5.7 million barrels per day, spiking global oil prices and providing an initial demonstration of the vulnerability of Saudi oil facilities to missile and drone attacks.<\/p>\n
Separately, a regional official said an oil refinery in Jazan, on Saudi Arabia\u2019s Red Sea coast, has temporarily shut down due to \u201crelatively significant\u201d damage from a Houthi attack on Saturday. The official, who was not authorized to brief journalists and spoke on condition of anonymity, said it would take several days to be repaired. The refinery produces 400,000 barrels per day.<\/p>\n
The Texas-based IIR Energy consultancy said the refinery was tentatively expected to restart on Aug. 15.<\/p>\n
Iran rejects Oman proposal for managing Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n
The Strait of Hormuz has been a major flashpoint in the conflict. Iran\u2019s deputy foreign minister said his country rejected a proposal by Oman, which lies on the other side of the strait, for jointly managing ship traffic.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Iran\u2019s state-run television that aired Tuesday night, Kazem Gharibabadi said the Omani proposal included dividing the strait into two routes, each allowing the transit of 50% of shipping through the waterway.<\/p>\n
Iran offered a counterproposal with a temporary plan for transit of vessels through its territorial waters, he said, adding that Iran\u2019s policy is for the strait \u201cnever to return to its prewar situation.\u201d Before the conflict ships transited freely.<\/p>\n
Magdy and Becatoros write for the Associated Press. Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. AP writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Abby Sewell in Beirut, David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAIRO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Iran launched a barrage of missiles at American forces in the Middle East early Wednesday as the U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[1223,7018,682,102,379,34,94,64873,6298,34535,50,64872,1219,69,64874,683],"class_list":["post-227954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tehran","tag-barrel","tag-damage","tag-drone-attack","tag-hormuz","tag-houthis","tag-iran","tag-iraq","tag-iraqi-militia","tag-missile-attack","tag-oil-facility","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-several-day","tag-strait","tag-tehran","tag-tehran-backed-militia","tag-u-s"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117004102714585585","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}