US and Saudi forces strike Iran-aligned groups in Iraq: CENTCOM
Joint airstrikes hit logistics and weapons sites in eastern Iraq after more than 30 drone attacks; Iraq's PMF says its headquarters were struck, with dead and wounded
WASHINGTON (MNTV) — US and Saudi forces carried out joint airstrikes on Iranian-aligned groups and their sites in Iraq, US Central Command said Tuesday, in a sharp widening of the confrontation with Iran beyond the Gulf.
CENTCOM said US and Saudi fighter jets hit multiple logistics and weapons facilities in eastern Iraq, describing them as targets of “Iran-aligned terrorists” it said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had directed to attack US forces and Saudi energy infrastructure.
The strikes, it said, responded to more than 30 drone attacks over the previous 72 hours, and it claimed those attacks on US forces had failed.
CENTCOM said Iranian-aligned groups in Iraq had carried out more than 600 “attempted attacks” on US citizens and facilities between February and April, and warned the IRGC and its proxies to stop or face further military response.
Saudi Arabia gave the same account. Its Defense Ministry said early Wednesday that the joint strikes answered attacks launched from Iraqi territory on petroleum facilities in the kingdom, and — invoking Article 51 of the UN Charter, which recognizes the right of self-defense — described “precise and targeted strikes” on sites linked to those attacks.
Riyadh said it does not seek escalation but will respond to any aggression.
Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces gave a starkly different framing. The mostly Iranian-backed coalition of Shia armed groups, a formal part of Iraq’s state security apparatus, said several of its official headquarters were hit in what it called “treacherous terrorist attacks” by US and Saudi forces.
The PMF command in Basra said its headquarters was struck by airstrikes at 2 a.m. Wednesday local time, and the coalition said initial reports indicated deaths and injuries along with damage to buildings and property.
It called the strikes a dangerous escalation, a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, and an attack on the country’s official security institutions, adding that Iraqi authorities were assessing the casualties and damage.
Explosions were reported across several parts of Iraq, including Basra and Wasit province south of Baghdad.
The competing accounts could not be independently reconciled: what CENTCOM and Riyadh describe as precision strikes on Iranian proxies, Baghdad’s own security establishment describes as an assault on a state institution — a distinction that matters, because the PMF is not only an Iran-aligned militia network but a legally recognized arm of the Iraqi state, making the strikes an attack on Iraqi government forces on Iraqi soil.
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