Iran Fires Missiles at US Forces in Jordan as Washington and Riyadh Strike Iraq, Lifting Oil

A five-day pause in the war between the United States and Iran ended when Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched several ballistic missiles toward United States forces stationed in the region, in what the United States military called an attempted surprise attack. The United States said it intercepted the missiles aimed at its troops in Jordan and remained on heightened alert, Al Jazeera reported. The Israeli financial outlet Globes carried the same United States account, describing the launch as an attempted surprise strike on American positions.

Washington and Riyadh responded with joint strikes on what they described as logistics and weapons sites used by Iran-aligned armed groups in eastern Iraq. The United States warned Iran to halt attacks, carried out directly or through regional allies, against American assets and Saudi energy infrastructure, or face further military action, Euronews reported. Iran and the groups it supports describe their actions as retaliation for earlier United States and Israeli strikes, while Washington calls them unprovoked aggression. The two accounts remain unreconciled.

The renewed fighting reversed part of a sharp decline in oil. Crude had fallen about 16 percent over the prior three sessions on expectations the pause would continue, and Brent recovered more than 3 percent to near 87 dollars a barrel, according to market coverage. The pattern shows how quickly a geopolitical risk premium returns to energy prices each time the confrontation escalates.