On Wednesday, July 31st, 2026, Saudi Arabia joined the United States for the first time in launching air strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq. This marked Riyadh's first direct military involvement alongside Washington since the Iran war began in late February.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated that the strikes targeted logistics hubs and weapons depots operated by militias under the direction of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Saudi officials described the operation as an act of self-defence, responding to drone attacks against the kingdom's energy infrastructure earlier that week attributed to Iran-backed groups in Iraq.

The Hashed al-Shaabi alliance, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces—an umbrella group including many of Iraq's pro-Iranian Shia militias—reported that around 20 of its fighters were killed in the strikes.

Experts note this represents a marked departure from Saudi Arabia's recent cautious approach. Toby Matthiesen, senior lecturer in Global Islam at the University of Bristol, said, "It's a very big shift, it looks like the Saudis are getting more openly militarily involved [...] after a few months of very severe restraint."

Since the US-Israeli offensive against Iran began on February 28, Saudi Arabia has faced ongoing attacks by Tehran and its regional allies. Javier Bordon, a researcher in International Relations at Lancaster University, observed that Saudi Arabia portrays itself as a moderate country while managing the ongoing regional conflict and conflagration.

Kenzy Dessouki, a student specializing in Saudi-Iran relations at IE University in Madrid, noted, "The two countries have historically channelled this tension through a broader proxy war involving multiple states and militant groups across the Middle East."

Bordon added, "I think the US and Saudi Arabia, they align in this vision when it comes to reasserting or consolidating the state monopoly [...] over the militias," describing the strikes as "a way of signalling their support for that vision."

Sources