Iran launches renewed missile attacks

globalnation / Global Scale Global Scale Iran launches renewed missile attacks As US and Saudis strike Tehran-backed militias in Iraq Associated Press / 06:17 AM July 30, 2026 Share: This satellite image provided by Planet Labs PBC on July 27, 2026 shows smoke rising from the Saudi Aramco oil processing facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, 2026. — Photo from Planet Labs PBC via Associated Press BAGHDAD — Iran launched a barrage of missiles at American forces in the Middle East on Wednesday as the U.S.

partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Tehran-backed militias in neighboring Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers. Elsewhere, drone strikes ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at the Egyptian port of Damietta, according to Ambrey, a British maritime security firm. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strikes on a U.

S.-owned floating storage facility and a Greek-owned tanker. No injuries were reported.

The flare-up on multiple fronts after several days of relative calm raised the risk of a return to all-out war. It also underscored the difficulty of winding down a five-month conflict that has jolted the world economy and is unpopular among Americans. The fighting was also likely to add to concerns that the U.

S. is further drawing down already diminished stockpiles of sophisticated munitions needed to defend its bases and allies. Article continues after this advertisement READ: Mediators see progress in efforts to halt Iran warFEATURED STORIES GLOBALNATION Teodoro: PH needs more than Asean relations for national security GLOBALNATION Keiko Fujimori becomes Peru's ninth president in a decade GLOBALNATION Senate adopts resolution recognizing 70 years of PH-Japan friendship Egypt, a close U.

S. ally and regional mediator, is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have been spared direct military action during the war. A strike by Iran or its allies, if confirmed, would mark a significant widening of the conflict.

Asked during an Oval Office event if Iran was responsible for the strikes on the natural gas vessels, Trump responded: “It’s a little more of the same.” “It’s going to be straightening out,” he added. “In the meantime, we’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them.

They know it’s coming. They’re asking us not to do it.” Saudi Arabia had accused the Iraqi militias of firing drones against its oil facilities over the past two days.

An umbrella group of Iraqi militias initially denied the allegations, while another Iran-backed group — the Houthi rebels in Yemen — said they had attacked Saudi energy facilities as part of a separate but related conflict. Article continues after this advertisement Before the latest eruption, mediators had expressed optimism about bringing the U.S.

and Iran back to the negotiating table. An interim agreement collapsed in recent weeks over renewed fighting in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy supplies that Iranian attacks have again effectively closed. A regional official said mediators are “still trying with both sides” to restore calm and get the ceasefire back on track.

He gave no details on whether progress was being made and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door diplomacy. Article continues after this advertisement READ: Iran halts strikes as Trump gives space to talks The renewed hostilities sent oil prices spiking. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 7.

3% to $88.093 a barrel. Jordan intercepts missiles and US strikes militias in Iraq Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it fired ballistic missiles at Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, a key U.

S. military hub for the region, in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. Jordan’s military said five Iranian missiles had been intercepted and destroyed.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The U.S.

military later announced that American and Saudi fighter aircraft had struck multiple logistics and weapons sites in eastern Iraq in response to the alleged drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Defense Ministry warned that it “does not seek escalation but will respond to any aggression.” The Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of primarily Shiite Iranian-backed armed groups that is officially under the command of the Iraqi military, said at least 20 fighters were killed and 32 wounded in the overnight strikes.

Six Iranian advisers were also killed, according to two Iraqi militia officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. Iran’s deputy governor for political, security and social affairs in Markazi province told Iranian state media that four advisers were killed. The coalition joined the fight against the Islamic State group after it seized large sections of Iraq in 2014.

The Iraqi government later designated the coalition as an “independent military formation” within the