Drones Attack Iran’s Neighbors As Tehran Appears To Test Trump’s Latest Pause

DUBAI, July 27 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq reported drone strikes on Monday, two days after the United States abruptly suspended a two-week campaign of air strikes against Iran, as Tehran put President Donald Trump’s latest strategic U-turn to the test.

Saudi Arabia announced that it shot down drones targeting oil targets, some in the eastern province and some in the capital Riyadh. He said the drones were launched from Iraq by Iran-backed militias and reserved the right to respond.

Separately, Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen said they were targeting transit sites carrying oil to Saudi Arabia’s main Red Sea oil port of Yanbu in retaliation for Saudi drone attacks on Yemeni airspace.

Earlier, Jordan reported the downing of two drones, and Iraqi security sources reported a series of drone attacks on camps housing Iranian opposition Kurdish forces in northern Iraq. Authorities did not identify the sources of these drones.

Jordan and northern Iraq were the sites where four US soldiers were killed during the two-week air campaign; Trump abruptly suspended it over the weekend after his top brass told him the strategy was on track.

Iran has said it will pause its own attacks as long as Trump’s self-imposed ceasefire continues. But he also said he still maintains control of the disputed Strait of Hormuz and is not seeking to pursue peace talks with the United States.

In the latest strategic reversal, which took place over the weekend and without any prior explanation, Trump halted 13 consecutive nights of intense bombing campaign that had provoked Tehran to open fire on US bases.

The end of the US campaign caused oil prices to fall. Brent crude oil, which briefly rose above $100 per barrel for the first time since May last week, fell by around 6.5 percent to just over $90 on Monday and reached low levels of $87.55.

Trump’s decision to suspend the campaign reflected advice from his military that bombing had reached the limits of what it could achieve, according to a US official and some US media reports.

The US official told Reuters that military commanders had informed the president that they had run out of targets. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, expressed concern about running out of air defense ammunition, the official said.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said on Sunday that Trump had paused the campaign to make room for negotiations. Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other US officials have described Iran as “begging for a deal.”

However, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said at a televised press conference on Monday that Iran does not want the resumption of peace talks with the United States.

Baghaei said that messages are still being transferred between the parties through mediators and that Iran has not given up on diplomacy, but “reports that Iran is demanding negotiations with the United States are fabricated.” “It’s not in our DNA.”

Tehran also stated that it still controls the Strait of Hormuz.

Some Iranian state media quoted an “informed source” as saying Iran turned away six “criminal ships” that tried to cross the strait without its permission on Monday morning. The source said one of the ships had an “accident”.

According to the news in Iranian state media, the source said, “As previously announced, the traffic route in the Strait of Hormuz is the route determined by Iran, other routes are contaminated and there is no way out.”

Trump launched a renewed bombing campaign to punish Iran after Tehran opened fire on ships using a route through the strait encouraged by the United States, which had instructed the ships to sail close to the coast of Oman.

Iran says ships can only pass through a canal closer to its coast that it controls and plans to charge transit fees.

Two weeks of US bombing have killed scores of people in Iran and destroyed military targets as well as bridges and tunnels in the south. Four US soldiers were killed in Iran’s return fire against US bases in neighboring Arab countries. Iran has also struck civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries in retaliation for US attacks on civilian targets.

Last week, Iran’s Houthi allies blockaded Saudi Arabia’s oil industry in the Red Sea, threatening to extend the disruption to global oil supplies to the second largest waterway, causing oil prices to rise further.

The halt to the renewed US bombing campaign leaves no clear indication of what leverage Washington could use to achieve Trump’s goal of breaking Iran’s grip on the strait.

Washington and Tehran reached an agreement in June on the framework of negotiations planned to be held by the end of August to resolve important issues such as Iran’s nuclear program.

However, the parties disagreed over the meaning of the memorandum’s language regarding the Strait of Hormuz; Washington insists it requires Tehran to allow free travel, while Iran says it has authorized it to monitor transit.

Iran aims to formalize its control over the strait with an agreement with Oman, which controls the opposite shore. A high-level Omani delegation was in Tehran over the weekend to discuss the strait, and Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Baghaei said those talks were going well.

(Additional reporting by Muayad Hameed in Iraq, Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Toby Chopra)