Saudi Arabia has openly partnered with the United States to strike bases belonging to Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a coalition of mostly Shia, Iran-backed militias formally integrated into the Iraqi armed forces. The joint operation, described by US Central Command as targeting "multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq," killed at least 20 PMF fighters and wounded 32 others, according to the group itself. Two Iraqi militia officials also told reporters that six Iranian advisers were killed in the strikes, though it was unclear whether they were counted among the 20. Riyadh said it acted under its right to self-defence after Iranian-backed groups launched more than 30 drone attacks against Saudi oil facilities over the preceding 72 hours, including strikes that caused visible damage to the Abqaiq processing facility — one of the world's largest, capable of handling around seven million barrels of crude per day.

While Saudi Arabia had reportedly been involved in a small number of covert operations against Iran, its open participation in strikes inside Iraq marks a significant and public escalation. Baghdad condemned the raids as "a blatant violation of Iraq's sovereignty, targeting its official institutions," and Iraqi President Nizar Amidi called them "unacceptable." Iraq's National Security Council noted that the strikes occurred while Iraqi officials were in active contact with both Saudi and American counterparts to address concerns through diplomatic channels. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi cancelled a planned visit to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah in the wake of the strikes. President Trump, however, told Fox News the operation had been "co-ordinated with the Iraqi government" — a claim Baghdad disputed. Iran-backed militia group Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba warned that US and Saudi interests would "face consequences."

The strikes came hours after Iran launched ballistic missiles at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan — a key US military hub — in what the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps described as an offensive, preemptive strike. Jordan's military said all five missiles were intercepted. Trump responded with unusually blunt language, vowing that the US would be "hitting them hard." Iran separately announced it had struck three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz after they sailed what it called an "unsafe and illegal route" through the waterway, which has been effectively closed to normal traffic since the US-Iran conflict intensified in late February.

Analysts warn the region has entered genuinely uncharted territory. Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at the Chatham House think tank, said that Iran's apparent strategy of deliberate unpredictability is designed to pressure Washington "either into confrontation or concession." HA Hellyer of the Royal United Services Institute argued that Saudi Arabia's participation was intended to signal that Gulf states would not remain passive targets — but cautioned that the response from Tehran could not be predicted. "We are in uncharted territory," he said, noting that Iran views the broader conflict "through a prism of existential survival."

The conflict is also spreading geographically. Yemen's Houthi movement — which receives Iranian backing — has announced a blockade of Saudi shipping at the Bab al-Mandab strait, the gateway to the Red Sea. And an explosion struck an American-owned gas storage tanker at the port of Damietta, on Egypt's Mediterranean coast just west of the Suez Canal, in what appeared to be a drone attack — the first reported incident of the conflict on Egyptian soil. If confirmed as Iranian-linked, energy experts note it would suggest Tehran and its allies are moving to threaten a third global shipping chokepoint, alongside the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab — a combination that could affect up to 20 percent of the world's energy supplies. Oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday, with Brent crude climbing around 5 percent to approximately $88.50 a barrel.