US and Iran trade missile barrages as hopes dim for a quick resolution to the five-month conflict
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The U.S. military says it has completed what it describes as “a heavy wave of strikes against Iran” conducted in response to an earlier Iranian missile attack on a U.S. base in Jordan
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A man sits on a surfboard as a container ship and other commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 27, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA
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Mourners carry the coffin of an Iranian adviser draped in the Iranian flag during a group funeral for Iranian advisers and Popular Mobilization Forces fighters killed in airstrikes on bases belonging to Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of predominantly Shiite militias that includes Iran-backed groups, in Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. /Hadi Mizban)
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A child rests his head on the coffin of a Popular Mobilization Forces fighter draped in the Iraqi flag during a funeral for Popular Mobilization Forces fighters killed in airstrikes on PMF bases in Najaf, Iraq, Thursday, July 30, 2026. /Anmar Khalil)
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A damaged vehicle at the site of an airstrike on a Popular Mobilization Forces base in Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. /Farid Abdulwahed)
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The U.S. military says it has completed what it describes as “a heavy wave of strikes against Iran” conducted in response to an earlier Iranian missile attack on a U.S. base in Jordan
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A man sits on a surfboard as a container ship and other commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 27, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA
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A man sits on a surfboard as a container ship and other commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 27, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA
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Mourners carry the coffin of an Iranian adviser draped in the Iranian flag during a group funeral for Iranian advisers and Popular Mobilization Forces fighters killed in airstrikes on bases belonging to Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of predominantly Shiite militias that includes Iran-backed groups, in Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. /Hadi Mizban)
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Mourners carry the coffin of an Iranian adviser draped in the Iranian flag during a group funeral for Iranian advisers and Popular Mobilization Forces fighters killed in airstrikes on bases belonging to Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of predominantly Shiite militias that includes Iran-backed groups, in Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. /Hadi Mizban)
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A child rests his head on the coffin of a Popular Mobilization Forces fighter draped in the Iraqi flag during a funeral for Popular Mobilization Forces fighters killed in airstrikes on PMF bases in Najaf, Iraq, Thursday, July 30, 2026. /Anmar Khalil)
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A child rests his head on the coffin of a Popular Mobilization Forces fighter draped in the Iraqi flag during a funeral for Popular Mobilization Forces fighters killed in airstrikes on PMF bases in Najaf, Iraq, Thursday, July 30, 2026. /Anmar Khalil)
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A damaged vehicle at the site of an airstrike on a Popular Mobilization Forces base in Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. /Farid Abdulwahed)
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A damaged vehicle at the site of an airstrike on a Popular Mobilization Forces base in Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. /Farid Abdulwahed)
By
SAMY MAGDY and ELENA BECATOROS
Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year]
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CAIRO (AP) — The United States and Iran each fired barrages of missiles Thursday, as the pattern of back-and-forth strikes took hold again and hope dimmed for a quick end to the five-month conflict
Following a few days of respite, fears of a wider war have grown, with renewed fighting threatening to engulf even more countries: Jordan said Thursday it intercepted Iranian missiles for the second consecutive day, while Kuwait said a strike in the northern part of the country killed one person. Also this week, drones caused fires on ships at an Egyptian port, and Saudi Arabia said it came under fire from Iran-backed militias in Iraq
The war — which in its early days President Donald Trump said would last four to five weeks, although he warned it could take longer — has caused the price of fuel to spike and roiled the global economy. As months have passed, concerns have deepened about using up the stockpile of weapons the U.S. needs to defend its bases and allies
The recent pause in fighting, which began over the weekend and spurred hopes among mediators of diplomatic progress, ended with increasing missile and drone attacks across many countries in the Middle East
“We note with concern that the security situation remains precarious,” said Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, whose country has been a key mediator, adding that diplomats were still seeking an end to the fighting
Talks “are ongoing to normalize the situation, particularly the situation in the Strait of Hormuz,” he told reporters
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The US and Iran trade strikes
An Iranian strike hit a Chinese firm’s building in Kuwait on Thursday, severely damaging the structure and killing a worker, Kuwait’s military said, hours after Jordan’s air defenses shot down five missiles launched from Iran
No injuries were reported from Jordan’s interception, Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said, quoting the spokesman for the country’s armed forces. Both countries are U.S. allies and host American troops
The attacks came after the U.S. military said it completed “a heavy wave of strikes against Iran,” conducted in response to an earlier Iranian missile attack on a U.S. base in Jordan
The military’s Central Command said in a social media post that the U.S. struck dozens of targets belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance and defense sites
Iran’s official IRNA news agency said three people were killed and two were wounded in a strike on the island of Qeshm, which lies just off the Iranian mainland in the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial waterway for the world’s energy supplies that has been at the center of the conflict
The latest barrage came after the U.S. partnered with Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to strike Iran-backed militias in Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers
Fires were reported on two natural gas vessels at an Egyptian port
Also on Wednesday, British maritime security firm Ambrey said drone strikes ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at the Egyptian port of Damietta. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strikes on a U.S.-owned floating storage facility and a Greek-owned tanker. No injuries were reported
The office of the Egyptian prime minister said initial investigations showed the fires on the two vessels had been caused by a drone
Egypt, a close U.S. ally and regional mediator, is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have been spared direct military action during the war. A strike by Iran or its allies, if confirmed, would mark a significant widening of the conflict
Asked during an Oval Office event if Iran was responsible for the strikes on the vessels, Trump responded: “It’s a little more of the same.”
The Damietta Port Authority said Thursday in a statement on Facebook that the facility was fully operational. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen denied they were behind the attack
The war has wreaked havoc on the global economy
Since Iran began threatening and firing on ships in the Strait of Hormuz early in the war, the conflict has wreaked havoc on the global economy as energy shipments through the waterway ground to a near halt. Much of the diplomacy around ending the war has focused on reopening the strait, through which 20% of oil and natural gas shipments passed in peacetime
The strait is once again effectively closed — and in recent weeks, fighting elsewhere has squeezed energy supplies further
Saudi Arabia has accused the Iraqi militias of firing drones against its oil facilities over the past days. An umbrella group of Iraqi militias initially denied the allegations, while the Houthi rebels said they had attacked Saudi energy facilities as part of a separate but related conflict
The Houthis have declared a blockade of Saudi shipping and threatened to choke off another crucial Middle East trade route, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden. That route became even more important during the war, as Saudi Arabia used it to bypass the Strait of Hormuz
On Monday, the Houthis said they had launched drones targeting facilities used to transport oil across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The rebels said the attack was in response to a Saudi drone they said breached Yemen’s airspace
Planet Labs satellite imagery from Monday analyzed by The Associated Press showed damage to Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq oil-processing facility, which is capable of processing approximately 7 million barrels of crude oil per day
Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman met Wednesday with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly about the private meetings
They said the Saudi decision to join the U.S. attacks against the Iraqi militias was meant to send a message to Iran that the kingdom would not tolerate Iran or its proxies targeting the Saudi oil industry and other critical infrastructure. At the same time, the defense minister underscored to Trump and Vance that the Saudis want to see a de-escalation in the war and for Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations
Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed
SAMY MAGDY
ELENA BECATOROS
