The United States carried out what its military called a heavy wave of strikes against Iran on July 29, 2026, following an Iranian missile attack on a base in Jordan used by US forces. Central Command said the operation lasted two hours and hit dozens of Iranian Revolutionary Guard targets.
The listed targets included command centres, missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance and air-defence sites. Iranian state media reported that two people were injured on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz and that explosions occurred in Khuzestan province. Independent confirmation of the target damage was not included in the published account.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it had fired missiles a day earlier at Jordan's Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, an important US military hub. Jordan's armed forces said they intercepted and destroyed five Iranian missiles. President Donald Trump then promised a forceful response.
The US barrage followed American and Saudi strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq. The Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella organization of mainly Shiite armed groups that is formally part of Iraq's military but whose members retain substantial autonomy, said at least 20 fighters were killed and 32 wounded. Two Iraqi militia officials reported six Iranian advisers killed, while an Iranian provincial official put that number at four.
Iraq's government condemned the US-Saudi action and said civilians were among the casualties. A television reporter said Trump told him Iraq had coordinated with the strikes, but Iraq's National Security Council said they occurred while Baghdad was still investigating Saudi and American concerns. Those accounts remained in conflict.
Separate drone attacks set fires aboard two natural-gas vessels at Egypt's Damietta port. Ambrey, a maritime security company, identified one as a floating-storage facility owned by US interests and the other as a tanker under Greek ownership. It reported no injuries. Responsibility was unknown.
The renewed fighting threatened to reverse several quieter days in a five-month conflict. Mediators had been attempting to revive negotiations after an interim agreement collapsed amid violence in the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway, central to global energy shipments, had again been effectively closed by Iranian attacks, according to the report.
Oil markets reacted sharply. The report gave two different intraday figures for Brent crude, including a 7.3% rise to $88.093 a barrel; the variation appeared to reflect a developing market update. The escalation also renewed questions about US inventories of advanced munitions needed to defend regional bases and allies.
Saudi officials sought to deter attacks on oil infrastructure while also pressing Washington and Tehran to return to talks. The US strikes showed the immediate emphasis had shifted back toward retaliation, with the possibility of a broader regional war again increasing.
