Between 26 and 28 July 2026, Iran-aligned militias based in Iraq fired more than 30 drones at Saudi oil facilities in the kingdom’s Eastern Province and near Riyadh, with Saudi Arabia‘s air defenses intercepting a number of them. One strike caused minor damage and flaring at Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil-processing facility, the world’s largest, according to satellite imagery.
On 28 July, at 5:45 p.m. ET, Iran‘s Revolutionary Guard launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iranian territory at a US air base and command center in Jordan, in what US Central Command called an attempted surprise attack — a departure from Iran’s earlier pattern of retaliating only after US strikes. All the missiles were intercepted; Jordan‘s military said it shot down five of them. The same day, Iran’s navy struck three oil tankers attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
Also on 28 July, US Central Command and the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces conducted joint strikes in Iraq against Iran-aligned militias that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had directed to attack US forces and Saudi energy infrastructure — the first publicly acknowledged Saudi participation in strikes during the war. US and Saudi fighter aircraft hit logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in response to more than 30 IRGC-directed drone attacks over the preceding 72 hours. Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces said at least 20 of its fighters were killed and 32 wounded in strikes on bases across Baghdad, Wasit, Nineveh, Basra, Kirkuk, Karbala, and Diyala provinces, with the deadliest hits in Nineveh and Diyala.
Efforts Categories: Iran’s Military Force against the US (in the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan); Iran’s Military Force against the US and others in the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz (2026); US’s Military Force against Iran in Iraq (2026); Saudi Arabia’s Military Force against Iran (in Iraq)
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