Hmmmm?
Intersting….
Has Iran , and it’s proxies, made a mistake in attacking other Middle East countries who up to now sat things out and are doing attacks (Saudi’s ) ?
The ISW piece below from 7/28/2026 describes the internal jocking in Iran over how to deal with the War …
Iran IS having issues in its ‘leadership’….
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China is working with the Houthi’s to get their oil tanks thru the Rea Sea….
American and Saudi fighter jets attacked Iranian-linked militias in Iraq on Wednesday, and Iran fired missiles at military bases in Jordan and oil tankers, ending a days-long pause in direct fighting between the United States and Iran and further widening the scope of the war.
Iran-allied groups in Iraq and Yemen, and potentially Lebanon joined the fighting. The United States accused the Iranian military on Wednesday of directing its allies in Iraq to attack “U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure,” in what would be a serious escalation. The Iranian-allied Houthi militia in Yemen said it had targeted a Saudi oil tanker on Tuesday.
Since the collapse of a cease-fire between the United States and Iran this month, more countries have been drawn in, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Jordan. Earlier in the war, Iran’s attacks had largely targeted the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Wednesday’s attacks followed days of relative calm, during which President Trump had raised the prospect of new peace talks even as he made repeated threats against Iran. The Iranian foreign ministry condemned the U.S.-Saudi strikes as an attempt to broaden the conflict.
Mr. Trump said Iran’s latest strikes were a surprise in an interview on “Fox & Friends.” American forces had only a few minutes’ notice to shoot down the incoming Iranian missiles, he said. “We’ll be hitting them hard,” the president told a correspondent for the program.
The Jordanian military said it had shot down five missiles that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claimed were fired in retaliation for American aggression.
The U.S. military said that the strikes in Iraq were in retaliation for more than 30 drone attacks by Iranian proxy groups in the past 72 hours. No Iraqi militia group has claimed responsibility for the strikes.
The Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement that the country was not seeking escalation but would respond to any aggression.
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi of Iraq called the U.S.-Saudi strikes “an unacceptable aggression.” The Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of Iraqi militias, many of which have close ties to Iran, said in a statement that at least 20 fighters were killed in the strikes.
Separately, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said its forces had struck three tankers, but it did not say where the ships were located.
Here’s what else we’re covering.
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Iraqi militias: The P.M.F. is an umbrella group of Shiite militias that banded together in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group, which had seized large parts of Iraq. It has gained political influence and come under the authority of the national security forces in recent years, but some militias still operate with a large degree of independence.
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Oil prices jump: The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, and West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose sharply on Wednesday following the attacks. Read more ›
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Lebanon: The Israeli military said Wednesday that Hezbollah had launched an explosive drone at one of its vehicles in southern Lebanon. A Hezbollah spokesman said the group did not claim responsibility for an operation in the ridge area. Read more ›
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ISW….Iran Update Special Report, July 28, 2026
- Three competing groups within the regime are attempting to influence negotiations policy. The group currently arguing for negotiations and total control over the strait is likely guiding policy at this time. This group is likely led by elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), including IRGC commander Major General Ahmad Vahidi.
- The “IRGC-Vahidi” group is under pressure from a pro-negotiations and pro-compromise group that likely includes but is not limited to President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi, and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. This group primarily disagrees with the IRGC-Vahidi group over means, not ends. This group also seeks “control” of the strait, though its definition of control may be less expansive.
- The third group is an ultra-hardline faction, the Paydari Front, which opposes all negotiations with the United States. This group is a small minority, but its proximity to power through regime insiders like Saeed Jalili, who is currently a Supreme Leader representative on Iran’s top national security decision-making body — the Supreme National Security Council — and previously chaired the council, would likely require Vahidi and other policymakers to take note of its views.
- Concerns from pro-negotiation corners in Iran over continued US sanctions, the US blockade, and economic damage from the war underscore the risk Iran faces in continuing the war indefinitely. Economic challenges caused by the US blockade were among the reasons why Pezeshkian argued the Memorandum of Understanding’s (MOU) case to the supreme leader in June, according to the New York Times, which indicates that at least some regime actors believe the present situation is untenable for Iran.
- Iran continues to reject compromises to Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz because hardline decisionmakers perceive control of the waterway as the regime’s most reliable means of preserving future leverage. Iran is refusing to give up control of the strait in talks with Omani mediators as the mediators have proposed a formal 10-day truce, according to a US official and mediators speaking to Western media on July 27.
- The Houthis claimed to have struck a Saudi vessel on July 28, marking their third claimed attack on Saudi shipping since July 22. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea announced on July 28 that the Houthis fired several ballistic missiles targeting the Saudi-flagged oil and chemical tanker NCC Ghazal for “violating” the Houthi blockade.
- The People’s Republic of China (PRC) reportedly asked the Houthis to facilitate safe passage for Chinese-owned oil tankers through the Red Sea, according to six informed sources speaking to Reuters on July 28. Reuters, citing commercial ship tracking data, reported on July 28 that at least four tankers transporting Saudi oil to China transited the Bab al Mandeb since the Houthis announced their blockade on July 20.
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