Iran launches ballistic missiles at U.S. forces in the Middle East, Centcom says

Iran targeted American forces in the Middle East with ballistic missiles late Tuesday stateside, U.S. Central Command said, raising tensions in the region again after the warring sides had briefly halted hostilities.

Centcom said in a post on X that the attack originated from Iran, but all missiles were intercepted. It said 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.

The U.S. military command did not specify where the attacks were aimed, but Axios reported that the attack was directed at a U.S. base in Jordan, citing U.S. officials.

In a later statement posted on X, Centcom said U.S. and Saudi forces struck multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites in eastern Iraq Tuesday stateside, retaliating against more than 30 drone attacks in the past three days by Iran-aligned terrorists.

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said the strikes were carried out in coordination with U.S. Central Command and added that the kingdom does not seek escalation, but will respond to any aggression it faces.

Riyadh said earlier that drones launched from Iraq by Iran-affiliated terrorist militias attempted to target petroleum facilities in Saudi Arabia.

The Iran-backed Iraqi Mobilization Forces later said at least 20 of its members had been killed in the strikes and 32 wounded.

Tensions have escalated after a two-day pause in hostilities between Washington and Tehran, sending oil surging after prices declined for three straight days.

U.S. President Donald Trump had set aside plans to escalate the war against Iran amid worries over diminishing stockpiles of Patriot interceptors and other air defense munitions in the Middle East, The New York Times had reported. Trump had dismissed concerns over stockpile depletion.

Iran had indicated it would stop carrying out attacks as long as the U.S. refrained from striking, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing a senior Iranian official.

Separately, the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre reported suspicious activity in the Red Sea in a post on X.

The agency said the master of a tanker reported hearing an explosion while transiting in the southern Red Sea, without giving more details. The incident was reported on Monday, while the advisory was issued on Tuesday.

While it is not confirmed whether the reported incident was perpetrated by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, the rebels had claimed to have attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the area last week, with Saudi Arabia retaliating against the rebels.

The Bab-el-Mandeb strait in the Red Sea is a critical export channel for Saudi Arabian oil diverted from the Strait of Hormuz and a chokepoint for commercial shipping traffic.

Experts have warned that a closure of Bab el-Mandeb would block those barrels, exacerbating the oil disruption triggered by Iran’s attacks on tankers in Hormuz.

The Red Sea shipping route remains strategically important because disruption there can force vessels to reroute and increase shipping costs. By end-2024, traffic through the Suez Canal and Bab El-Mandeb had already fallen sharply, according to the World Bank, underscoring the economic sensitivity of the corridor.