US-Saudi strikes in Iraq threaten escalation of conflict – The Irish Times
US-Saudi strikes on Iran-backed militia targets in Iraq have pushed the region into uncharted territory, threatening a further escalation of the conflict and rattling energy markets.
The renewed and escalating violence from Washington and Tehran risks a return to full-blown war, while the involvement of Saudi Arabia and militant groups also threatens to plunge the Middle East into a wider regional conflict.
Speaking on Wednesday, US president Donald Trump described Iran-backed militias as “a cancer on the world” and said the US-Saudi operation had been co-ordinated with the Iraqi government.
The strikes followed a brief pause in direct US attacks on targets in Iran, although Tehran’s allies, including groups in Yemen, have become more involved in the conflict.
Iran also launched missiles at US military installations in Jordan, marking its first regional attack since the lull in fighting with Washington.
The latest exchange ended a days-long pause in direct military action between the US and Iran, a period that had helped ease global oil prices.
Oil prices rose sharply after Trump’s comments with Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbing more than 7 per cent to $90.45 a barrel
Trump said the US would be “be hitting [Iran] hard”, even as he claimed the strikes in Iraq were co-ordinated with the government, despite Baghdad’s condemnation.
Also on Wednesday, explosions hit a natural gas loading port on the Mediterranean Sea in Damietta, Egypt, reportedly involving a drone strike, the first reported strike on Egypt in the war. The source of the drone was unclear.
[ Donald Trump vows to ‘hit Iran hard’ in retaliation for latest attackOpens in new window ]
British maritime security company Ambrey said a US-owned floating storage tanker in the region had been hit by a drone, in another potential widening of the Middle East war.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said its aerospace force had targeted the US airbase and Centcom’s regional headquarters in Jordan with several ballistic missiles.
Iraq’s Iran-backed Shia militia groups said in a statement that at least 20 of their members had been killed in the US-Saudi strikes.
Trump said that negotiations between Washington and Tehran would continue. “We’re going to let them keep talking.”
On Friday the US paused strikes after 13 nights of attacks, with Washington saying Trump was giving “space” for talks to Tehran. Before the surprise ballistic missile attack, Iran had previously launched an assault on US military targets in the Middle East.
[ How Iran has adapted its missile war and given the US a strategic dilemmaOpens in new window ]
Trump told Fox on Wednesday that US forces had just minutes to shoot down the incoming Iranian ballistic missiles overnight.
“Resistance will continue” as long as threats against the Islamic republic continue and the US military’s “unlawful and malicious” acts against “our interests” persist, the IRGC said on Wednesday.
In Baghdad the Iraqi presidency called the air raids on the Iran-backed militants – known as Hashed al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilisation Forces – as “a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty, targeting its official institutions”.
The militia is a network of Shia-majority factions that was established in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group.
The Iraqi prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, who recently met Trump, called off a planned meeting with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah on Thursday in the wake of the strikes.
The fighting flared at the end of a month packed with multiple pressure points on Trump.
In recent weeks, four US troops died during the fighting, while the Pentagon asked an increasingly sceptical Congress for more money to cover the conflict’s ballooning costs.
Iran launched its ballistic missile attack before US and Saudi forces carried out strikes in Iraq, according to a US official, who stressed that the two attacks were not connected.
“US 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,” US Central Command said, using an acronym for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
It said the Revolutionary Guard “and its terrorist proxies must cease these attacks to avoid further US military response”.
The Saudi defence ministry acknowledged the strikes in a post on social media, warning that “the Kingdom emphasises that it does not seek escalation but will respond to any aggression it faces”.
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026