Cairo: Jordan’s air defences intercepted five missiles launched from Iran early Wednesday, the country’s military said, hours after the US military said it had knocked down an Iranian missile barrage launched against American forces in the Middle East, shattering a brief pause in fighting.
The Jordanian military said the missiles had been “intercepted and destroyed.” Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency carried a statement from the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard saying the Guard’s Aerospace Force fired ballistic missiles at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base and the headquarters of the US military’s Central Command in Jordan.
Hours earlier, the US Central Command said its forces “remain vigilant and at a high state of readiness,” and that they had also worked with Saudi Arabia’s forces to strike sites in Iraq that Tehran-backed militias have used to launch attacks in recent days.
In announcing the strikes in Iraq, the US warned that further attacks on American troops or Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure risked additional action.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi called an emergency meeting of the country’s National Security Council Wednesday to discuss the strikes.
The United States and Iran had experienced a period of calm, during which neither announced attacks for about three days following weeks of escalation over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf waterway and narrow chokepoint through which 20% of the world’s traded oil normally flows.
The fighting flared at the end of a month packed with multiple pressure points on US President Donald Trump. In recent weeks, four US troops died during the fighting, while the Pentagon asked an increasingly sceptical Congress for money to cover the conflict’s ballooning costs.
Saudi Arabia and the US strike Iran-backed militias in Iraq
“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.”
The Popular Mobilisation Forces, a coalition of primarily Shiite, Iran-backed armed groups that is officially under the command of the Iraqi military, said in a statement that at least 20 fighters were killed and 32 others wounded in the overnight strikes on its sites in several parts of Iraq.
The groups making up the PMF joined in the fight against the Islamic State group after it seized large sections of Iraq in 2014.
In 2016, the Iraqi government designated PMF as an “independent military formation” within the Iraqi armed forces, but in practice, the member militias have continued to operate with significant autonomy. Some of them have launched attacks on US facilities.
Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that it shot down drones fired by Iran-backed militias in Iraq for a second day, while Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed to have forced a Saudi oil tanker to turn around as part of their announced blockade of the kingdom.
Al-Zaidi, the Iraqi leader, ordered security agencies to investigate after the Saudis alleged a similar attack on Monday. The Iraqi military said the country is committed to “preventing Iraqi territory from being used as a route or launching point for any attack targeting brotherly or friendly countries.”
The Iraqi militias have denied any role in the drone attacks. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed groups, called the Saudi claims “fabrications” and implied that Monday’s attacks were carried out by the Houthis, who had themselves claimed to have attacked Saudi oil facilities.
Iranian state-run media says tankers were hit in the Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Wednesday that the Revolutionary Guard’s Navy claimed it had struck and stopped three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. It said the strikes came after the vessels allegedly ignored repeated warnings and continued sailing along what it described as an “unsafe and illegal route.” The report did not identify the tankers or the flags they were sailing under.
There was no immediate independent confirmation of any strikes on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Houthis claimed to have fired missiles at the Saudi oil tanker NCC Ghazal in the Red Sea, forcing it to turn back. There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia on the claim. Last week, the Houthis announced a blockade of Saudi shipping, putting another key Middle Eastern waterway – through the Bab el-Mandeb strait leading to the Red Sea – at risk.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said late Tuesday that a tanker reported hearing explosions while travelling in the southern Red Sea the previous day. It did not name the tanker but said the crew and vessel were safe. It did not report strikes against tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday.
The rebels fired on at least one Saudi tanker in the Red Sea last week.
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