Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq report drone attacks days after US suspended Iran strikes
Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq reported drone attacks on Monday, two days after the United States abruptly suspended a two-week campaign of air strikes against Iran, as Tehran appeared to put President Donald Trump’s latest strategic U-turn to the test.Saudi Arabia said it shot down drones aimed at petroleum targets, some in its eastern province and others in the capital Riyadh.It said the drones had been launched from Iraq by an Iran-backed militia, and it reserved the right to respond.Separately, Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen said they had targeted transit sites carrying oil to Saudi Arabia’s main Red Sea oil port of Yanbu, in retaliation for what it said were Saudi drone incursions into Yemeni airspace.Earlier, Jordan reported shooting down two drones, and Iraqi security sources reported a series of drone attacks on camps housing Iranian opposition Kurdish forces in northern Iraq.
Officials did not identify the sources of those drones.Jordan and northern Iraq were the locations where four US service members were killed during the two-week air campaign, which Trump suspended abruptly over the weekend after his top brass advised him that the strategy had run its course.Iran has said it will pause its own attacks for as long as Trump’s self-imposed ceasefire continues.But it also said it was still in control of the contested Strait of Hormuz, and was not seeking to resume peace talks with the United States.In his latest strategic reversal over the weekend, which came with no prior announcement, Trump halted a campaign of 13 successive nights of intensifying bombing that had provoked Tehran to fire on US bases in response.The end of the US campaign sent oil prices tumbling.
Brent crude, which had briefly ticked above $100 a barrel last week for the first time since May, fell around 6.5% on Monday to just over $90, having touched levels as low as $87.55.Trump’s decision to suspend the campaign reflected advice from his military that the bo...