Jordan intercepts Iranian missiles as US and Saudi Arabia launch strikes against militias in Iraq

The attacks again highlight how difficult it has been for U.S. President Donald Trump to end the war, which has caused the price of fuel and other basics to skyrocket far beyond the region and is deeply unpopular at home. In recent weeks, four U.S. troops died during the fighting, while the Pentagon asked an increasingly skeptical Congress for money to cover the conflict’s ballooning costs.

The renewed hostilities sent oil prices spiking. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 3.1% to $84.58 a barrel.

Jordan intercepts missiles and US strikes militias in Iraq

The Jordanian military said five missiles had been “intercepted and destroyed.” Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency carried a statement from the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard saying the Guard’s Aerospace Force fired ballistic missiles at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base and the headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command in Jordan.

Hours earlier, the U.S. Central Command said its forces “remain vigilant and at a high state of readiness.”

In announcing the strikes against militias in Iraq, the U.S. warned that further attacks on American troops or Saudi Arabia ’s energy infrastructure risked additional action.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi called an emergency meeting of the country’s National Security Council Wednesday to discuss the strikes.

Two Iraqi government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly said a visit to Saudi by al-Zaidi that had been scheduled for Thursday had been postponed, without another date being set.

Saudi Arabia says it shot down drones

Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that it shot down drones fired by Iran-backed militias in Iraq for a second day, while Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed to have forced a Saudi oil tanker to turn around as part of their announced blockade of the kingdom.

On Monday, the Houthis said they had launched drones targeting oil facilities used to transport oil from Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Region to the Red Sea port city of Yanbu, a key bypass for Saudi exports blocked by Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. The rebels said their attack was in response to a Saudi drone that they said breached Yemen’s airspace.

Planet Labs satellite imagery from Monday analyzed by The Associated Press showed damage to Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq oil processing facility in the kingdom’s east. The facility, the world’s largest crude stabilization plant, is a cornerstone of Aramco’s operations, with the capacity of processing approximately 7 million barrels of crude oil per day.

Attacks on Abqaiq claimed by Houthi rebels in September 2019 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.

Separately, a regional official said an Aramco oil company refinery in Jazan, on Saudi’s Red Sea coast, has temporarily shut down due to damage sustained from a Houthi attack on Saturday. The official described the damage as “relatively significant,” saying it would take several days to be repaired. The refinery produces 400,000 barrels per day.

The Texas-based IIR Energy consultancy agency said the Jazan oil processing facility shut down on Monday after initially operating at reduced rates since the attack two days earlier. Repairs and a tentative restart of the refinery were expected for Aug. 15, IIR Energy said.

Iran rejects Oman proposal for managing Strait of Hormuz

The Strait of Hormuz has been a major flashpoint in the conflict. Iran’s 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 through the critical waterway.

In an interview with Iran’s 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 passing through the waterway.

The proposal failed to address Tehran’s concerns and Iran offered a counterproposal with a temporary plan for transit of vessels through Iran’s territorial waters, he said, adding that Iran’s policy is for the strait “never to return to its prewar situation.” Before the conflict, ships transited freely through the waterway.

Saudi Arabia and US strike Iran-backed militias in Iraq

“U.S. and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours,” U.S. Central Command said, using an acronym for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

The Saudi Defense Ministry acknowledged the strikes in a post on social media, warning that the country “does not seek escalation but will respond to any aggression it faces.”

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.

The groups making up the PMF joined in the fight against the Islamic State group after it seized large sections of Iraq in 2014. In 2016, the Iraqi government designated PMF as an “independent military formation” within the Iraqi armed forces, but in practice the member militias operate with significant autonomy. Some have launched attacks on U.S. facilities.

The Iraqi military said the country is committed to “preventing Iraqi territory from being used as a route or launching point for any attack targeting brotherly or friendly countries.”

The Iraqi militias have denied any role in the drone attacks. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed groups, called the Saudi claims “fabrications” and implied that Monday’s attacks were carried out by the Houthis, who had themselves claimed to have attacked Saudi oil facilities.

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Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Iraq, Abby Sewell in Beirut and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

Samy Magdy And Elena Becatoros, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Jordan intercepts Iranian missiles as US and Saudi Arabia launch strikes against militias in Iraq

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