US joins forces with Saudis to strike Tehran-backed militias in Iraq

The US military says it intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile barrage aimed at a US base in Jordan, calling it an attempted surprise attack that broke a brief pause in fighting. In response, US forces worked with Saudi Arabia to strike sites in Iraq used by Tehran-backed militias, killing at least twenty fighters from a pro-Iran paramilitary alliance, the Guardian reports. Oil prices spiked after the flare-up, compounded by claimed Iranian attacks on three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that carries a large share of the world's seaborne oil.

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