Democracy Dies with Dictatorship
NY Times
Jul 29, 2026
Iran War Live Updates: U.S. and Saudi Airstrikes Drag More Countries Into Fighting
Global oil prices jumped on Wednesday after the U.S. and Saudi Arabia said they had carried out joint airstrikes on Iranian proxies in Iraq.
by Lara JakesJenny Gross and Raja Abdulrahim
Here’s the latest.
American and Saudi fighter jets attacked Iranian-linked militias in Iraq on Wednesday, and Iran fired missiles at military bases in Jordan and oil tankers, ending a days-long pause in direct fighting between the United States and Iran.
The latest strikes further widened the war in the Middle East, drawing Iran-allied groups in Iraq and Yemen, and potentially Lebanon, into the fighting. Their involvement raised the question of whether Iran could be encouraging its proxies to open additional fronts in a war that threatens to embroil more countries in the region.
The United States accused the Iranian military on Wednesday of directing its allies in Iraq to attack “U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure,” in what would be a serious escalation. The Iranian-allied Houthi militia in Yemen said it had targeted a Saudi oil tanker on Tuesday.
Since the collapse of a cease-fire between the United States and Iran this month, more countries have been drawn in, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Jordan.
Wednesday’s attacks followed days of relative calm, during which President Trump had raised the prospect of new peace talks even as he made repeated threats against Iran. The Iranian foreign ministry condemned the U.S.-Saudi strikes as an attempt to broaden the conflict.
According to “Fox & Friends,” Mr. Trump said Iran’s latest strikes were a surprise. American forces had only a few minutes’ notice to shoot down the incoming Iranian missiles, he said. “We’ll be hitting them hard,” the president told a correspondent for the program.
The Jordanian military said it had shot down five missiles that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claimed were fired in retaliation for American aggression.
The U.S. military said that the strikes in Iraq were in retaliation for more than 30 drone attacks by Iranian proxy groups in the past 72 hours. No Iraqi militia group has claimed responsibility for the strikes.
The Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement that the country was not seeking escalation but would respond to any aggression.
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi of Iraq called the U.S.-Saudi strikes “an unacceptable aggression.” The Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of Iraqi militias, many of which have close ties to Iran, said in a statement that at least 20 fighters were killed in the strikes.
Separately, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said its forces had struck three tankers, but it did not say where the ships were located.
Here’s what else we’re covering.
Iraqi militias: The P.M.F. is an umbrella group of Shiite militias that banded together in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group, which had seized large parts of Iraq. It has gained political influence and come under the authority of the national security forces in recent years, but some militias still operate with a large degree of independence
Oil prices jump: The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, and West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose sharply on Wednesday following the attacks. Read more ›
Lebanon: The Israeli military said Wednesday that Hezbollah had launched an explosive drone at one of its vehicles in southern Lebanon. A Hezbollah spokesman said the group did not claim responsibility for an operation in the ridge area. Read more ›
July 29, 2026, 10:57 a.m. ET14 minutes ago
Middle East correspondent
Iraq’s National Security Council condemned deadly U.S. and Saudi airstrikes on a number of Iraqi militias, which killed at least 20 people, during an emergency session Wednesday.
The council decided on a security plan to confront any violation of the country’s sovereignty and to prevent any party from threatening neighboring countries. The council confirmed its “firm position rejecting all hostile acts, regardless of the party that carries them out or the justifications invoked for them.”
July 29, 2026, 10:43 a.m. ET27 minutes ago
Several Iranian advisors were killed in the U.S.-Saudi strikes on Iraq, according to images released by Sabereen news, an agency affiliated with the Kataib Hebzollah, a powerul Iraqi militia linked to Iran. A photograph and video of the funeral procession released by the group showed at least five coffins wrapped in Iranian flags.
July 29, 2026, 10:39 a.m. ET31 minutes ago
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon
Israel accuses Hezbollah of launching a drone in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that Hezbollah had launched an explosive drone at one of its vehicles on a strategic ridge in southern Lebanon, raising fears of a renewed escalation on one of the most volatile front lines in the Middle East.
The attack threatened to undermine a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group that dominates Lebanon. The truce has barely held as Israel and Lebanon have worked to implement a separate framework agreement aimed at ending months of fighting. Hezbollah has rejected the agreement between Israel and Lebanon.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military said Hezbollah had launched the drone toward an engineering vehicle operating on the Ali al-Taher ridge, a commanding hilltop about six miles from the Israeli border. The Israeli military said there were no injuries from the incident.
A Hezbollah spokesman said the group did not claim responsibility for an operation on the ridge area, and accused Israel of using “false pretexts” to continue its attacks in Lebanon.
The latest conflict between Hezbollah and Israel erupted on March 2, after the group attacked Israel in solidarity with Iran following the U.S.-Israeli strikes that began the war. The fighting has killed more than 4,300 people in Lebanon, displaced more than one million residents and Israel now occupies large areas of southern Lebanon. Israeli officials say at least four Israeli civilians and more than 30 soldiers have been killed.
In recent months, the ridge has become one of the most strategically significant areas in the conflict. Lebanese and Israeli officials believe Hezbollah has established one of its largest underground installations beneath the ridge. Israel says the complex has for years served as a command center for planning and launching attacks against its territory. The ridge overlooks much of southeastern Lebanon, including the city of Nabatieh.
As recently as May, the ridge was beyond the area that Israel had occupied several miles inside southern Lebanon. Israel marks the boundary of this zone with a yellow line on its maps and says it regards any armed individual operating south of that line as a security threat and a legitimate military target. In June, however, Israel redrew those boundaries, extending the yellow line to include the ridge.
Fighting has flared in the area since.
In mid-June, Hezbollah said in a statement that it had targeted Israeli troops attempting to advance into the area. Later that month, the Israeli military said thousands of its troops had surrounded a vast underground Hezbollah fortress beneath the ridge, trapping dozens of the group’s fighters inside.
The latest episode occurred as Israel and Lebanon seek to implement a framework agreement intended to wind down the conflict that was negotiated during months of talks in Washington and Rome. It calls for Israel to gradually withdraw from territory it holds in southern Lebanon while the Lebanese Armed Forces move in to secure those areas and facilitate the return of displaced residents.
The first areas slated for implementation, described as “pilot zones,” are intended to test the broader agreement reached last month. Three villages have been designated in the first phase of the withdrawal plan.
But the framework has been criticized in Lebanon because it sets no fixed timetable for Israel’s withdrawal, and is tied to the Lebanese government’s tentative efforts to disarm Hezbollah — a process that has proved difficult.
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.
July 29, 2026, 10:33 a.m. ET38 minutes ago
Samuel Granados
Satellite images show smoke rising earlier this week from two oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. The United States said joint U.S.-Saudi airstrikes on Iran-allied groups in Iraq early on Wednesday were in response to drone attacks the groups had launched. Saudi Arabia has faced dozens of attacks against its oil facilities this week. The Iranian-allied Houthi militia in Yemen also said they had targeted Saudi energy facilities.
July 29, 2026, 9:16 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Lara Jakes has covered Mideast conflict and diplomacy for more than 15 years
According to “Fox & Friends,” President Trump described Iran’s recent strikes in Jordan as a surprise attack, telling the program that American forces had only a few minutes’ notice to shoot down the incoming Iranian missiles. “We’ll be hitting them hard,” Trump said in an interview, according to a correspondent for the program.
July 29, 2026, 8:44 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Oil prices continued to climb on Wednesday with Brent crude, the global benchmark, rising over 6 percent to $90 a barrel following the renewed fighting in the Middle East. Less than a week ago, oil topped $100 but then pulled back during a lull in the strikes between Iran and the United States.
July 29, 2026, 8:24 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon
The Israeli military said Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group in Lebanon, had launched an explosive drone overnight at an Israeli engineering vehicle in the Ali Taher Ridge area of southern Lebanon. No injuries were reported in the attack but the Israeli military called it “a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement.” The ridge has emerged as a focal point of the fighting in recent weeks, the site of a Hezbollah underground complex.
Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israel and Lebanon have agreed a series of ceasefires and extensions since April, but none has succeeded in stopping the fighting completely. Israel has continued to occupy much of southern Lebanon, where it has carried out strikes and demolitions.
July 29, 2026, 7:58 a.m. ET3 hours ago
Middle East correspondent
The Popular Mobilization Forces is an umbrella group of Shiite militias that banded together in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group, which had seized large parts of Iraq. Some of the militias within the P.M.F. receive military and financial backing from Iran.
In recent years, the group has gained political influence, and has agreed to come under the authority of the national security forces. But it has never been fully integrated and some of its militias continue to operate with a large degree of independence.
July 29, 2026, 7:18 a.m. ET4 hours ago
Euan Ward and Sanam Mahoozi
Iran’s foreign ministry has condemned the overnight U.S.-Saudi strikes on Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq, accusing Washington and Israel of seeking to widen the war across the region. The ministry said the strikes violated Iraqi sovereignty and hit stations serving Arbaeen pilgrims, referring to Shia Muslims traveling to the Iraqi city of Karbala in one of the world’s largest annual pilgrimages.
Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of Iraqi militias, many of which have close ties to Iran, said at least 20 of its fighters had been killed in the attacks.
Israel has not said it was involved in the attacks.
July 29, 2026, 6:35 a.m. ET5 hours ago
Today’s attacks, following a dayslong pause in strikes, are the latest in an on-again-off-again dynamic that has defined the war since the United States and Iran agreed a cease-fire in April. Here are the seesaws between fighting and fragile truce that have brought the two sides to this point.
July 29, 2026, 6:29 a.m. ET5 hours ago
Business and economics reporter
The risk levels for ships navigating two critical waterways in the Middle East is increasing, both in the Strait of Hormuz and in the Bab al-Mandab strait in the Red Sea.
The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen struck a Saudi oil tanker on Tuesday, according to Windward, a maritime data agency.
While 41 ships passed through the Bab al-Mandab strait on Tuesday, a rise from the previous day, “higher traffic should not be mistaken for lower risk,” said Kpler, a ship-tracking firm. The location transponders on four of those ships were turned off, it added, reflecting the elevated risk levels.
July 29, 2026, 5:07 a.m. ET6 hours ago
Middle East correspondent
At least 20 fighters of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of Iraqi militias, many of which have close ties to Iran, were killed in the U.S. and Saudi airstrikes, the group said on Wednesday. More than 30 fighters were also wounded and military vehicles and equipment were destroyed in the strikes, it added.
July 29, 2026, 4:46 a.m. ET6 hours ago
Global oil prices jump as attacks resume in the Middle East.
After tumbling last week, oil prices reversed direction on Wednesday, topping $90 a barrel, as attacks resumed in the Middle East, jolting investors concerned about the flow of energy out of the region.
The United States and Saudi Arabia said they had struck Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, and Iran said it had fired missiles at U.S. military targets in the region.
In addition, the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen said on Tuesday that they had launched missiles at a Saudi oil tanker, the group’s latest attack since announcing a blockade of Saudi shipping in the Red Sea.
The Houthis’ efforts to restrict traffic in the Bab al-Mandab strait at the southern end of Red Sea, which Saudi Arabia has used as an alternative to Strait of Hormuz, has created a new front in the war with Iran.
Threats of the blockade had helped push up global oil prices, which then eased this week along with several days without full-blown fighting between the United States and Iran.
Oil prices rise.
The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose more than 7 percent to $90 a barrel. That is for oil to be delivered in September. Oil for October delivery was up nearly 6 percent to about $87 a barrel.
West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, rose about 7 percent to around $88 a barrel.
Oil prices have fallen from their recent highs, but are still up more than 20 percent since the beginning of the war.
Investors and analysts are focused on the continued disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that is a vital trading route for oil and natural gas that normally carries as much as one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
Global stocks were mixed.
The S&P 500 dipped slightly when stocks began trading in the United States on Wednesday. Investors are waiting for an announcement later in the day from the Federal Reserve, which is expected to hold interest rates steady.
Stocks in Asia, where markets have experienced a sell-off related to fears about tech companies overspending in the artificial intelligence race, were mixed. Chinese indexes showed small gains. South Korea’s KOSPI index fell 6 percent, and the Nikkei closed 1.5 percent lower.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600, a broad index that tracks the region’s largest companies, ticked lower.
Gasoline prices tick lower.
Gas prices fell 1 cent on Wednesday to a national average of $4.09 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club. The increase has raised the cost for drivers by about 37 percent since the war began.
Gas prices don’t move in lock step with crude, usually trailing increases or drops by a few days.
The average price of diesel rose 1 cent to $5.33 on Wednesday, up 42 percent since the start of the war.
What they are saying: ‘Caught in the crosswinds’ of oil prices and tech stocks.
The renewed fighting is weighing on investors, who “were again caught in the crosswinds of volatile oil prices and an ongoing chip rout,” analysts at Deutsche Bank wrote in research note.
The Federal Reserve is not expected to raise interest rates, but the escalation in the Middle East is “complicating the inflation outlook,” the analysts wrote.