Iran missiles, Iraq strikes revive West Asia war fears

Cairo,UPDATED: Jul 29, 2026 20:18 IST

Iran launched a barrage of missiles at American forces in West Asia early Wednesday, while the US and Saudi Arabia struck Tehran-backed militias in neighbouring Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters. The fresh violence on several fronts, after a few days of relative calm, raised the risk of a return to all-out war.

The latest flare-up also came as mediators had been expressing optimism about bringing Washington and Tehran back to the negotiating table after an interim agreement collapsed in recent weeks over renewed fighting in the Strait of Hormuz. The renewed hostilities pushed oil prices higher, with Brent crude rising 3.1 per cent to USD 84.58 a barrel, and added to concerns about the impact on global energy supplies and US stocks of advanced munitions.

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it fired ballistic missiles at Jordan's Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, a key US military hub for the region, in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. Jordan's military said five Iranian missiles were intercepted and destroyed, with no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Later, the US military said American and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple logistics and weapons sites in eastern Iraq in response to alleged drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities over the past two days. Saudi Arabia had accused Iraqi militias of launching those drones. An umbrella group of Iraqi militias initially denied the allegations, while the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they had attacked Saudi energy facilities as part of a separate but related conflict. The Saudi Defence Ministry said it "does not seek escalation but will respond to any aggression."

The Popular Mobilisation Forces, a coalition of mainly Shiite, Iran-backed armed groups officially under the Iraqi military's command, said at least 20 fighters were killed and 32 others were wounded in the overnight strikes. The militias that make up the PMF joined the battle against the Islamic State group after it seized large parts of Iraq in 2014. The Iraqi government later designated the PMF as an "independent military formation" within the armed forces, but the militias retain significant autonomy and some have attacked US facilities.

Iraqi officials sharply criticised the strikes. President Nizar Amidi's office called them "an unacceptable attack and a blatant violation of Iraq's sovereignty, targeting its official security institutions." Iraq's Security Council said the attacks were carried out "while 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," and added that "a number of innocent people" had been killed and wounded. A visit to Saudi Arabia by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, scheduled for Thursday, was postponed indefinitely, according to two Iraqi government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A regional official said mediators were "still trying with both sides" to restore calm and get the ceasefire back on track, but gave no details on whether any progress was being made. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door diplomacy.

Saudi Arabia is also facing renewed attacks from the Houthis, who have declared a blockade of Saudi shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb strait between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. On Monday, the group said it launched drones at oil facilities used to move crude across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea port city of Yanbu, which has become a key export route as Iran's actions have again effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthis said the attack was in response to a Saudi drone they said had entered Yemen's airspace.

Planet Labs satellite imagery from Monday, analysed by The Associated Press, showed damage to Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq oil processing facility in eastern Saudi Arabia. The site can process about 7 million barrels of crude oil a day. In 2019, attacks on Abqaiq claimed by the Houthis disrupted production of 5.7 million barrels a day, sending global oil prices higher and highlighting the vulnerability of Saudi oil infrastructure to missile and drone attacks.

Separately, a regional official said an oil refinery in Jazan on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast had temporarily shut down after sustaining "relatively significant" damage in a Houthi attack on Saturday. The official, who was not authorised to brief journalists and spoke on condition of anonymity, said repairs would take several days. The refinery produces 400,000 barrels a day. Texas-based IIR Energy said the refinery was tentatively expected to restart on August 15.

The Strait of Hormuz remained another major point of tension. Iran's deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tehran had rejected an Omani proposal for jointly managing ship traffic through the waterway. In an interview aired on state television on Tuesday night, he said the plan proposed dividing the strait into two routes, each handling 50 per cent of shipping. Iran instead offered a temporary plan for vessels to pass through its territorial waters. Gharibabadi said Iran's policy was for the strait to "never to return to its prewar situation."

The latest exchanges underlined how quickly the conflict can widen again, with missile fire, airstrikes and attacks on energy infrastructure all feeding concerns over regional stability, oil supplies and stalled diplomatic efforts.

With PTI Inputs

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