{"id":228094,"date":"2026-07-29T17:33:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/228094\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T17:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:33:18","slug":"hopes-of-new-ceasefire-fade-as-saudis-join-trumps-war-in-the-middle-east-with-strikes-on-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/228094\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopes of new ceasefire fade as Saudis join Trump\u2019s war in the Middle East with strikes on Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n

A furious Donald Trump<\/a> has threatened to punish Iran<\/a> following a \u201csurprise\u201d attack on US<\/a> military targets in the Middle East. <\/p>\n

The offensive took place days after the US president suspended air strikes <\/a>over the region. <\/p>\n

In an expletive-ridden outburst, he told Fox News: \u201cWe\u2019re going to beat the f****** sh** out of them. We\u2019ll be hitting them hard. They\u2019re going to get a beating.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a day of escalation in the region, Saudi Arabia<\/a> joined the US in striking several Iran-backed groups. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s angry comments came after the US Central Command said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC<\/a>) had launched ballistic missiles at US military units in the Middle East. <\/p>\n

Iran confirmed late on Tuesday that it had fired US bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also rejected an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait. <\/p>\n

\"US-SaudiUS-Saudi strikes on Iraq on July 29 killed at least 20 members of a former paramilitary alliance that includes pro-Iran groups (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Backed by the other Gulf states, Oman proposed a plan for joint regional control of the strait this week that would allow the payment of voluntary service charges. <\/p>\n

But a senior Iranian official said Iran rejected the proposal as “unreasonable”. <\/p>\n

The official said a 50-50 joint control arrangement with Oman would not serve Iran\u2019s interests, though \u2060Tehran considers Oman a valuable neighbour.<\/p>\n

Hopes of a cooling of regional tensions faded on Wednesday after Saudi Arabia joined the US in air strikes. Washington and Riyadh said \u200bthey were in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from \u200cIraq<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, powerful Iran-backed paramilitary groups incorporated into the Iraqi security forces, said at least 20 members were killed and 32 wounded in the attacks. <\/p>\n

Iraqi men shouted Shi’ite sectarian \u2060slogans and “Death to America!” as they carried the bodies of fighters in body bags out of a hospital in Mosul in northern Iraq, footage from Iraq’s Al-Ahad television showed. <\/p>\n

\"MembersMembers of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) were killed following the strikes (Reuters)\"TheThe US nd Saudi Arabia said they had struck Iran-backed militants in Iraq in response to attacks on US forces and Saudi oil facilities (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Iran said the attacks were an attempt by the United States and Israel to spread their war further in the region. <\/p>\n

One of the Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, said US and Saudi forces would pay a “heavy price”. <\/p>\n

Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government, one of the few in the world to maintain close military and diplomatic ties with both Tehran and Washington, called an emergency meeting. <\/p>\n

The Iraqi presidency denounced the strikes on the paramilitaries as “an unacceptable attack and a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty”, while also calling for a halt to attacks by armed groups against Iraq’s neighbours.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia has said it \u201cdoes not seek escalation\u201d but \u201cwill respond to any aggression it faces,\u201d the ministry wrote <\/a>on X.<\/p>\n

The Kingdom has been drawn into the war on more than one front, as Houthi rebels in Yemen threatened to impose fees on ships passing through the Red Sea, risking an escalation of the conflict in the region. <\/p>\n

The Iran-backed group was planning to implement their own tolls on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, in an echo of Iran\u2019s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. <\/p>\n

A blockade of Saudi shops through the Strait has already been announced, which is within range of the Houthis\u2019 drones and rockets. <\/p>\n

As a result, Saudi launched air strikes against the Houthis for the first time since 2022. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe meeting between Trump and Netanyahu was \u2018postive and productive\u2019, the White House said (GPO)<\/p>\n

In a politically charged week, the Israeli prime minister visited the White House on Tuesday to discuss Iran with Trump in the pair\u2019s first sit-down since the war began. <\/p>\n

The meeting lasted nearly an hour and a half and was \u201cpositive and productive,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. <\/p>\n

In a social media posting several hours after the talks, Trump called it a \u201cvery good meeting\u201d where \u201cmany important subjects were discussed\u201d but offered no further details.<\/p>\n

An Israeli official briefed on the White House meeting said Netanyahu made it clear to Trump and his cabinet that if Iran were to attack Israel, they would respond, but that beyond that, they would trust the judgment of the president regarding next steps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[12474,12475,5084,34,12473],"class_list":["post-228094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-bestof","tag-essential","tag-horizontal","tag-iran","tag-topix"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117004468598059469","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228094","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=228094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}