“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reiterates that it does not seek escalation but will respond decisively to any aggression directed against it.”
The Middle East conflict has taken another dangerous turn.
The United States and Saudi Arabia have carried out joint strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq, after a wave of drone attacks aimed at US forces and Saudi energy facilities. The strikes risk opening another front in an already widening conflict and have put Iraq in an increasingly difficult position between Washington and Tehran.
US Central Command said the strikes targeted what it described as “Iran-aligned terrorists” directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to attack American forces and Saudi infrastructure.
Centcom said the operation hit “multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq” in response to more than 30 IRGC-directed drone attacks over a 72-hour period.
The US military said those attacks had failed.
“The IRGC and its terrorist proxies must cease these attacks to avoid further US military response,” Centcom said.
Saudi Arabia said it had also been targeted.
Maj-Gen Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the Saudi defence ministry, accused Iran-backed militias of launching drones from Iraqi territory at oil facilities in the Eastern Province and Riyadh on Monday and Tuesday.
He said Saudi Arabia had acted under its “right to self-defence” and carried out strikes against “specific targets belonging to those militias”.
But inside Iraq, the response was immediate.
The Popular Mobilisation Forces, an umbrella organisation of mostly Shia militias formally incorporated into Iraq’s armed forces, said at least 20 of its fighters were killed and 32 wounded in the strikes.
SEE ALSO: US Set to Unveil Saudi Nuclear Deal Worth Billions, Raising Fears of Regional Arms Race
The attacks reportedly hit PMF headquarters across several provinces, including Baghdad, Wasit, Nineveh, Basra, Kirkuk, Karbala and Diyala. An official told AFP that the strikes in Nineveh and Diyala were the deadliest.
The PMF called the attacks “treacherous terrorist attacks” and described them as “an extremely serious escalation and a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty”.
Iraq’s presidency also condemned the bombing, calling it “an unacceptable attack and a blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty, targeting its official institutions”.
Yet US President Donald Trump said the strikes had been “co-ordinated with the Iraqi government”.
The timing has made the situation even more volatile.
Hours before the US-Saudi strikes, Centcom said Iran had launched missiles at US forces in the Middle East in what it called an “attempted surprise attack”. The US said all of the missiles were intercepted.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted a US air base and command centre in Jordan, describing the operation as a response to what it called the actions of the “American child-killing army”.
Iran also said its naval forces had struck three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz after the vessels allegedly ignored warnings.
When asked about the Iranian attack on Jordan, Trump told Fox News that US forces would be “hitting them hard”.
“They’re going to get a beating,” he said.
The danger now stretches well beyond Iraq.
Saudi Arabia and Iran restored diplomatic relations in 2023, but their long rivalry for influence across the region has never really disappeared. Their competition has played out through conflicts and armed groups in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
Now, with the Strait of Hormuz still at the centre of the dispute, the economic consequences are becoming harder to ignore.
Oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday as traders worried that further fighting could disrupt energy shipments through one of the world’s most important waterways. Brent crude climbed about 5% to $88.50 a barrel.
The strikes also came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington to meet Trump, adding another layer of political pressure to a conflict that shows little sign of settling down.
For three days, there had been a brief lull. That pause now appears to be over.
And with Washington, Tehran and Riyadh all responding to attacks in increasingly direct ways, the question is no longer simply whether the conflict will widen. It is how far it can spread before someone decides to step back.
