US Central Command and Saudi Arabian Forces Conduct Strikes Against Iran-Backed Forces in Iraq in Response to ‘Surprise’ Attack on US Base

US Central Command and Saudi Arabian Forces Conduct Strikes Against Iran-Backed Forces in Iraq in Response to ‘Surprise’ Attack on US Base

Cristina Laila

US Central Command on Tuesday evening announced joint US-Saudi strikes against Iran-backed forces in Iraq in response to a surprise attack on a US base.

Full statement from CENTCOM:

U.S. Central Command and the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces conducted precision strikes in Iraq, July 28, against Iran-aligned terrorists that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed to attack U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure. 

U.S. 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.

The unwarranted attacks against U.S. forces were not successful. 

From February through April 2026, there were more than 600 attempted attacks on U.S. citizens and facilities by Iran-aligned terrorist militias in Iraq. 

The IRGC and its terrorist proxies must cease these attacks to avoid further U.S. military response.

Earlier Tuesday, Iran launched a missile strike on US forces in the Middle East on Tuesday in what US Central Command described as a “attempted surprise attack.”

All of the missiles were intercepted, CENTCOM says.

This comes after President Trump called off the nearly two-week-long bombing campaign against Iran to continue negotiations on Friday.

“At 5:45 p.m. ET today, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in an attempted surprise attack on U.S. forces based in the Middle East. All Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted. U.S. forces remain vigilant and at a high state of readiness,” US Central Command announced in a statement.

18 US service members have been killed in action in the Middle East since the beginning of the war against Iran.

President Trump last Wednesday attended the dignified transfer of the four American patriots killed in action in the Middle East by Iranian drones.

War Updates: Russia preparing one of the largest aerial strike packages of the war, with Kiev as the likely target.

Establishment Gloats Over Ukraine’s Pivot to Civilian Targets, as Putin’s Rhetoric Heats Up

Simplicius

Again the MSM has caught up in the slipstream of our analysis.

The current geopolitical cue revolves around Ukraine’s putative pivot from strikes on Russia’s refineries to an all-out war against “Russia’s Amazon”:

After months of escalating attacks on oil depots and refineries, it has abruptly shifted targets, turning its sights to something more unexpected: warehouses and depots belonging to Wildberries, a Russian retail giant often described as the country’s equivalent of Amazon.

But the biggest bombshell is what they now openly admit to.

The above Telegraph piece veritably gloats over the fact that these strikes are having a major effect on Russia’s civilian population and its perception of the conflict.

But the strikes have another effect.

Robert Brovdi, Ukraine’s drone chief, said the strikes were aimed at destroying the “illusion of a comfortable, well-fed peacetime life enjoyed by the obedient biomass of an aggressor country”.

The damage is impossible to hide.

They show that Russia is vulnerable.

After only briefly and passingly mentioning that some “radios and military gear” are available on the Wildberries site, the authors quickly abandon that line of justification in favor of obsessively cataloguing the civilian toll the strikes are exacting:

The destruction of its warehouses has sent a shock wave through the small businesses selling goods through the site. Hundreds of people have posted videos online complaining that they had lost large inventories of goods and would not receive compensation from the company.

So, it’s not the “military radios” they really care about, it’s the “shock waves” sent through small businesses the article authors are salivating over in the hopes that it will result in mass unrest against Putin.

They end the piece by verbalizing these hopes outright, and proving that Zelensky’s pivot to hitting Russian retailers has nothing whatever to do with paralyzing the army’s ability to buy some kind of radios or armor—as if the Russian Army purchases its gear from Wildberries—but rather everything to do with pressuring Russian citizens, as is the standard M.O. of all failed imperial “kinetic” foreign policy:

One of the more interesting current discussions about Russia’s response to these Ukrainian provocations revolves around the theory that Putin has slowly been forced to change his approach to the war due to the increasing pressure from his own General Staff and security apparatus.

In truth, we can’t know for certain the ‘chicken-or-the-egg’ causal chain of the shift, but we do know this shift in tone and rhetoric is real. Just yesterday Putin told a conference that Ukraine will certainly lose its western territories:

He then went on to liken the attackers of Russian cargo ships to pirates, and told his naval command to begin treating them as one would treat pirates:

It still had the hallmarks of Putinism: the strict legalistic adherence; “framework of international maritime law”, etc. But the tone shift is obvious: “Decisive action” must be taken against these pirates, says Putin.

Even more notably, at his latest speech Putin told the audience a “secret”, that one of the Russian SMO medal winners whispered to Putin that Russia should “go harder” in the war, to which Putin responds: “I really want to.”

This is intriguingly revealing. On one hand, Putin openly gives the reasons for why the Russian Army cannot go “all out” as most people would like: because it would incur much greater losses, and Putin believes Russia’s current persistent slow-march across Ukraine is the ideal pace which maximizes victorious conditions while minimizing losses.

But the fact that he even brings it up and stages it in a kind of dialectic with the Russian people is intriguing in and of itself, because it represents Putin’s response to what is clearly becoming a growing call from society. Putin uses the soldier’s request as a chance to finally address this elephant in the room while acquitting himself of guilt by framing it as something Putin himself wishes he could do, but is not capable of doing for the given justifications.

Now Zelensky has continued agitating about Russia facing a crisis related to the above, with growing rumors—fanned by Ukraine—that a large-scale mobilization is imminent after Russian Duma elections in the fall. Zelensky himself has claimed upwards of 50,000 North Korean troops are getting readied to be “mobilized” into the Russian Armed Forces, while Putin will call up an additional 500k Russian troops.

More....

Fragile Iran 'Pause' Shattered As US Base In Jordan Comes Under Attack, Oil Soars

Fragile Iran 'Pause' Shattered As US Base In Jordan Comes Under Attack, Oil Soars

 TYLER DURDEN

Iranian state media in the overnight hours (local) are reporting fresh apparent Iranian missile attacks in Jordan. A "US base in Jordan was possibly targeted" after reports of explosions there, Fars and IRIB report. Tehran officials have insisted they have not requested US talks following the prior nearly two straight weeks of fighting, though a 'pause' took effect last Friday when President Trump ordered a halt to US airstrikes. The day was filled with headline hype of a potential 'resurrected' MoU deal. Once again these 'deal is close' headlines prove misleading and premature. CENTCOM is confirming on the heels of the Iranian media reporting:

• Senior American official: Iran launched missiles toward an American base in Jordan (Axios)
• CENTCOM: IRGC forces launch multiple ballistic missiles from Iran and all Iranian missiles were effectively intercepted

Adding to the uncertainty and jitters of already sensitive global oil, Iraqi militants on Tuesday fired projectiles on Saudi Arabia for a second day, also amid the ongoing missile threat from Yemeni Houthis. According to the Associated Press:

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 self-styled blockade of the kingdom.

The attacks underscored lingering tensions despite a period of calm between the United States and Iran, neither of which has announced attacks for days following weeks of escalation over the Strait of Hormuz.

The Saudi Defense Ministry said in a statement that air defenses intercepted and destroyed several drones that had attempted to target petroleum facilities in the nation’s eastern region. It said the attacks were “once again launched from Iraqi territory and carried out by Iran-affiliated terrorist militias.”

Oil climbing on the headlines of the rare pro-Tehran aggression during a 'pause':

WTI OIL JUMPS 5% AS US INTERCEPTS IRANIAN ATTACK ON ITS TROOPS

Iran has reaffirmed that if Oman does not agree to its terms for the Strait of Hormuz, the the vital oil transit waterway will remain closed, per Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister. This also as things are again heating up in the Red Sea region, with the Houthis late Tuesday announcing they've once again targeted a Saudi oil tanker for violating the blockade. Reuters reports:

Yemen’s Houthis claim to have fired ballistic missiles at a Saudi oil tanker, accusing the vessel of violating what they describe as their maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea and ignoring warning calls.

The Iran-aligned group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, claims the vessel was forced to turn back.

According to separate reporting, China is holding direct negotiations with Yemen's Houthis to ensure safe passage for its ships through the southern Red Sea.

Iran says it hasn't sought US talks in past 16-17 days, reports Irib News

And a US CENTCOM update on its latest figures: it says that as of Tuesday the US military has redirected 18 commercial vessels, disabled two, and boarded another two to "ensure full compliance of the US blockade against Iran." The latest from Netanyahu's meeting with Trump at the White House:

Channel 12 on a senior Israeli official: Netanyahu confirmed to Trump that additional strikes on rehabilitated Iranian nuclear facilities are unavoidable

More vessels reportedly turning away from planned routes after Houthi threats:

Here we go again... despite no evident change in war posturing on either side, and despite shipping traffic still largely at a complete standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, Fox News is out with claims that the failed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) could be 'resurrected'... bringing us back to the 'deal is close' constant headlines of earlier this summer (though of course the sides were never in reality close - and simply returned to a wider bombing campaign)...

"Mediators of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East believe the U.S. and Iran are close to a deal that would resurrect the failed memorandum of understanding, according to The Times of Israel," Fox writes, based on the earlier Israeli media article. Negotiators from Pakistan, Egypt and Qatar have been haggling over an Oman-proposed Strait of Hormuz management plan. It will involve fee-collection and is backed by the Gulf states, supposedly. The timing of all of this interesting given Trump is currently hosting Netanyahu at the White House. More from Fox:

 Iran and Oman — both of which are situated on the Strait of Hormuz — have reportedly signed off on the proposal advanced by the mediators.

The two sources said the White House was waiting to make a decision until after President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.

Meanwhile...

JMIC: DATA INDICATES ZERO TANKERS IN EITHER DIRECTION OF HORMUZ

Still, the return to deal 'optimism' has pushed oil prices down further - which is perhaps the entire point of US officials anonymously hyping that a deal is 'close' once again.

Why Did Iran Strike Jordan?

Ukraine-Iran Conflict Nexus Would Overstretch US Military and Economic Capacity

Ukraine-Iran Conflict Nexus Would Overstretch US Military and Economic Capacity

Sputnik

Volodymyr Zelensky’s attempt to merge the Ukrainian and Iranian conflicts through a Caspian Sea strike came with impeccable timing – just ahead of his US visit, former Pentagon senior security policy analyst Michael Maloof tells Sputnik.

"Zelensky grabbed that as an opportunity for his very limited PR purpose of showing Washington and Europe that he’s a team player," Maloof says.

There are also “definite Israeli fingerprints all over this operation”: Zelensky “was put up to it” by the CIA and Mossad, according to the pundit.

But “if anything, these two conflicts are showing the limitations of US power projection" – the US is overextended, lacking the money and resources not only for military hardware but also for keeping energy markets in balance, Maloof notes.

"If Zelensky even attempts — or is even partially successful — in merging these two conflicts, that really stretches, overstretches US resources to the point where the US will not be able to manage or assist on both fronts. Not only in terms of sales of weapons to Europeans to then sell them on to Ukrainians, but also directly in providing weapons to US forces who are directly battling Iranian forces."

Ukraine’s Attack on Iranian Ship in Caspian Sea is Act of Aggression - Russian MFA

Live Updates: Earthquake in Japan caused buildings to collapse as dozens reportedly injured

Live Updates: Earthquake in Japan caused buildings to collapse as dozens reportedly injured

NBC News

What we know

• Multiple people are believed to have been killed after an explosion at a mall following today’s earthquake, local media reported, citing police.
• With a magnitude of 6.8 and depth of 10 kilometers, or just more than 6 miles, the quake's epicenter was in Kumamoto prefecture, on the southwestern end of the country. 
• Aerial footage showed a derailed cargo train, collapsed towers at an industrial plant and a small building on fire.
• Japan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” where several tectonic plates converge and tremors take place almost constantly, making it one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

Dozens reported injured, including at a nursing home, according to NHK

About 80 people hurt during the earthquake were being treated at the Yatsushiro Northern Regional Medical Center in Hikawa, a town in the Kumamoto prefecture, as of Tuesday night, according to NHK. 

The outlet also reported that around 10 people were also hurt at a nursing home in the same town.

A staff member at Hayao-en Special Nursing Home for the Elderly told NHK that she was at her desk when the building began to shake violently. 

“I clung to my desk, but the shaking was so strong I couldn’t keep my balance,” the person, who was not identified, said, according to NHK. “Residents in wheelchairs fell over and a staff member fell on me, cutting my arm and causing bleeding. About 10 people were injured, but there are no serious injuries.”

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