Iran hits US in Jordan, US-Saudi strikes on Iraq: Is war spreading? - Al Jazeera

What the report says

Al Jazeera reported that Iran fired several ballistic missiles at United States military installations in Jordan early Wednesday, with US Central Command saying the attack was intercepted. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps described the launch as targeting US assets, but Al Jazeera said US, Iranian and Jordanian authorities had not identified the specific sites involved or clarified whether any damage occurred.

The same day, the United States and Saudi Arabia carried out strikes in Iraq against groups they described as aligned with Iran. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence and CENTCOM said the action followed drone attacks on Saudi petroleum facilities and on US forces, which they attributed to Iran-backed groups operating from Iraq. Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, a state-sanctioned umbrella organization that includes Iran-linked factions, said at least 20 fighters were killed and 32 wounded across seven provinces, with figures still preliminary.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi called an emergency national security meeting, while Al Jazeera reported that Iraqi agencies had been ordered to investigate the drone attacks. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq denied involvement in attacks on Saudi Arabia. Al Jazeera also cited regional diplomacy, including Saudi calls with Gulf counterparts and remarks at the UN, as governments urged de-escalation and protection of navigation routes such as the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb.

The developments matter because they suggest the US-Iran conflict is affecting more of the region, including Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Red Sea and Gulf waterways. Al Jazeera cited analyst Burcu Ozcelik as saying military pressure and diplomacy are continuing in parallel, with the risk that repeated exchanges become a sustained pattern rather than a short crisis.