The stop-start conflict between the United States and Iran on July 30 appeared to have entered a more perilous phase, with Saudi Arabia openly joining the military escalation and an Iranian strike reportedly targeting a port in Egypt.
The U.S. military said early on July 30 it had completed “a heavy wave of strikes against Iran” conducted in response to an earlier Iranian missile attack on a U.S. base in Jordan. U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran “very hard” after it targeted a base in Jordan that hosts U.S. troops.
The latest barrage came after the U.S. partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Iran-backed militias in neighboring Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers.
Central Command said in a social media post that over two hours the U.S. struck “dozens” of targets belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, including military command centers as well as missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance and defense sites.
Iranian state media said two people were injured in attacks on the island of Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz and that explosions were also reported in Khuzestan province to the northwest.
Elsewhere, drone strikes ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at the Egyptian port of Damietta, according to British maritime security firm Ambrey.
The flare-ups on multiple fronts after several days of relative calm raised the risk of a return to all-out war.
It also underscored the difficulty of winding down a five-month conflict that has jolted the world economy and is unpopular among Americans.
The fighting was also likely to add to concerns that the U.S. is further drawing down already diminished stockpiles of sophisticated munitions needed to defend its bases and allies.
Egypt, a close U.S. ally and regional mediator, is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have been spared direct military action during the war. A strike by Iran or its allies, if confirmed, would mark a significant widening of the conflict.
Asked during an Oval Office event if Iran was responsible for the strikes on the natural gas vessels, Trump responded: “It’s a little more of the same.”
“In the meantime, we’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them,” he added.
Saudi Arabia had accused the Iraqi militias of firing drones against its oil facilities over the past two days. An umbrella group of Iraqi militias initially denied the allegations, while another Iran-backed group —
the Houthi rebels in Yemen — said they had attacked Saudi energy facilities as part of a separate but related conflict.
Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman met separately on July 29 with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly about the private meetings.
They said the Saudi decision to join the U.S. attacks against the Iraqi militias was meant to send a message to Iran that it wouldn’t tolerate Iran or its proxies targeting the Saudi oil industry and other critical infrastructure. At the same time, the defense minister underscored to Trump and Vance that the Saudis want to see a de-escalation in the war and Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations.
