US-Saudi Strikes in Iraq Escalate Iran Conflict as Regional Tensions Widen

The five-month-old conflict between the United States and Iran escalated sharply this week, with new attacks spreading into Iraq, Jordan and Egypt, and fresh economic strain rippling across the region. On Wednesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it fired multiple ballistic missiles at US military installations in Jordan, describing it as retaliation in an ongoing “resistance.” US Central Command (CENTCOM) said all missiles were intercepted and characterized the attack as an attempted “surprise attack” on American forces, adding that troops remain at a high state of readiness. The strike came about a week after three US soldiers were killed in a July 17 attack on an airbase in Jordan; at least 18 American soldiers have died since the war began on February 28, according to Al Jazeera.

Hours after the Jordan strike, US President Donald Trump promised major retaliation, telling Fox News reporter Trey Yingst in blunt terms that Iran would “get a beating” and that the US would “be hitting them hard.” Speaking separately from the Oval Office, Trump said Iran was privately asking the US not to strike but that “it’s our turn.” The threats came a day after Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House; Al Jazeera notes Netanyahu has been seen as pushing Trump toward a harder line, with Israel favoring continuation of the war in pursuit of regime change in Iran, a goal on which Washington and Israel have reportedly diverged.

Iraq Strikes and Saudi Involvement

Also on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces, coordinating with CENTCOM, struck Iran-backed armed groups inside Iraq in response to drone attacks on Saudi petroleum facilities — reportedly some 30 IRGC-directed drone strikes over 72 hours. The targets were positions of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), an umbrella of mostly Shia factions established in 2014 to fight ISIS and historically overseen by slain IRGC commander Qassem Suleimani. The PMF said the strikes killed at least 20 fighters and wounded 32 across seven provinces, including Baghdad, Basra, Nineveh, Karbala and Diyala, with casualty figures described as preliminary. Iraq’s presidency condemned the raids as a violation of sovereignty, even as Trump claimed the operation was coordinated with Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi called an emergency national security meeting and canceled a planned Thursday trip to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah. The Iran-backed Iraqi militia Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba warned of consequences for US and Saudi interests, while mourners in Mosul chanted anti-American slogans at funerals for the slain fighters. Separately, an Iran-aligned group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq denied responsibility for the Saudi facility attacks, complicating the attribution of blame.

Spillover Into Egypt and the Suez Economy

The Guardian reports that explosions also struck a natural gas loading port in Damietta, Egypt, on Wednesday — apparently the first reported strike on Egyptian territory during the war — with maritime security firm Ambrey saying a US-owned floating storage tanker was hit by a drone whose origin remains unclear. Deutsche Welle details the broader economic squeeze on Egypt: President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has said Egypt lost roughly $7 billion in Suez Canal revenue in 2024 as shipping firms diverted away from Houthi threats near Yemen’s Bab el-Mandeb Strait, with monthly losses reportedly reaching $8 million at times. Canal revenues had partly recovered in 2025-2026 as Gulf oil was rerouted via Saudi pipelines to the Red Sea to bypass a blocked Strait of Hormuz, but renewed Houthi threats to the strait now jeopardize that workaround. Experts cited by DW — Stefan Lukas of Middle East Minds and Hanna Voss of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation — say rising energy prices, IMF-mandated reforms, and Red Sea instability are combining to strain Egypt’s currency, tourism revenue and debt position.

Iran’s Domestic Fuel Crisis

Inside Iran, DW reports the government is nearing a politically fraught decision to raise heavily subsidized gasoline prices, which spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani called “certain and unavoidable.” Reports suggest the top pricing tier could nearly double, from 5,000 to 10,000 tomans per liter, as war damage to fuel infrastructure and import restrictions widen the gap between domestic production and consumption. Given Iran’s minimum wage of about $87 a month, any increase risks repeating the deadly unrest triggered by a 2019 fuel price hike. An anonymous Karaj resident told DW the change would trigger a “chain reaction” raising costs across the economy, while energy strategist Umud Shokri said pricing alone would only reduce consumption as part of a wider policy package. France24 headlines separately reference public executions in Isfahan tied to anti-regime protests, though no article text was available to detail that report.

Diverging Coverage and Open Questions

Outlets converge on the basic sequence — Iran’s Jordan strike, the US-Saudi raid on Iraq, and Trump’s vow to retaliate — but emphasize different angles: Al Jazeera focuses on Trump’s rhetoric and US-Israel strategic tension; The Guardian stresses the “uncharted,” unpredictable widening of the war and Iraqi sovereignty objections; DW concentrates on the economic toll on Egypt and Iran’s domestic fuel politics. Several France24 items (on a Hormuz naval coalition, Trump’s midterm calculations, and Isfahan executions) were referenced only by headline without retrievable text, leaving those threads only partially confirmed. It also remains unclear, per Al Jazeera, whether Iran’s Jordan attack preceded or followed the US-Saudi strikes on Iraq, underscoring how fluid and contested the sequence of escalation has become.

Sources

• Deutsche Welle World
• Al Jazeera
• The Guardian World
• France24
• France24 (2)
• Al Jazeera (2)
• France24 (3)
• France24 (4)
• Deutsche Welle World (2)
• Al Jazeera (3)
• Al Jazeera (4)
• France24 (5)

Featured photo by Jonathan Ridley on Unsplash