{"id":21916,"date":"2026-07-30T10:18:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T05:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21916"},"modified":"2026-07-30T10:18:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T05:18:06","slug":"us-iran-conflict-enters-new-phase-as-saudi-arabia-helps-hit-proxies-and-diplomacy-stalls-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21916","title":{"rendered":"US-Iran conflict enters new phase as Saudi Arabia helps hit proxies and diplomacy stalls again"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \"><span class=\"oyrPY qlwaB AGxeB  \">WASHINGTON &#8212; <\/span>The stop-start <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-war-us-hormuz-strait-july-29-2026-e31d249ba6443decdd3e63cd00f0fb84\">fighting between the United States and Iran<\/a> appears to have entered a new phase as Saudi Arabia publicly joins military escalations against Tehran-backed proxies. At the same time, an already <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-war-trump-strait-hormuz-negotiations-476de0b0c341ead38126e617234d0939\">untenable diplomatic effort<\/a> to end the war has faltered once again as mistrust deepens between the longtime adversaries. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Despite several days of <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-war-trump-diplomacy-netanyahu-d491158a4c9a1d3429a87a6ed58f2f72\">relative calm<\/a>, both sides carried out military strikes in the last 24 hours that once again risk a return to all-out war \u2014 and further expansion in the region \u2014 while <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-war-trump-airstrikes-strait-hormuz-8c42c6ddc0c32d53ce452ace92a62b9a\">little is clear about what strategy<\/a>, if any, American or Iranian officials have for a path forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">While President Donald Trump and his allies have spent recent days arguing that Iran is begging to return to the negotiating table, Iran\u2019s deputy foreign minister said Tuesday that his country has made no requests to restart the diplomatic track in more than two weeks. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Following an <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-war-us-trump-saudi-houthis-iraq-8d2ae29300a8dc5495a4ce56c5312bf1\">attack on the U.S. base in Jordan<\/a>, Trump turned back to threats Wednesday even while raising the prospect of continued talks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cThey\u2019ve already apologized, but, you know, we got to smack them a little bit,\u201d he told reporters in the Oval Office. He added, \u201cIt\u2019s our turn, and we\u2019ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point. But we\u2019re going to hit them very hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">It reflects a deja-vu as the Republican president has vacillated for the past several months between insisting a deal was near to end the war and Tehran&#8217;s nuclear program and using vulgarities and <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-iran-threats-civilization-war-crimes-758eb5cd680d7d275c4e1c38b2e01e6d\">threats to get Iran to capitulate<\/a> to U.S. demands \u2014 to no avail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The stakes for continued U.S. military action have never been higher for Trump and his party as the conflict, <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/poll-trump-iran-economy-israel-7d7d79150f3da1cc28076604f8659b64\">unpopular among many Americans,<\/a> has <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/oil-strait-of-hormuz-iran-896c02f0c978986fff0ae7fc389ea51f\">jolted the world economy<\/a> just months before critical midterm elections in November. The renewed fighting also has killed and <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-war-casualty-count-pentagon-us-troops-4c578fc74746052627b1c87845fdc0d5\">injured more American troops<\/a> and been complicated by concerns that the U.S. <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-war-patriot-thaad-missile-defense-trump-feda2255d8adbfff797da8d3ac8e3033\">is further drawing down<\/a> stockpiles of key air defense systems needed to defend its bases and allies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In the past day, Iran said it fired ballistic missiles at Jordan\u2019s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, a key U.S. military hub for the region, which Trump said were intercepted. And Saudi Arabia joined the U.S. in striking multiple logistics and weapons sites used by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The first publicly announced joint U.S.-Saudi strikes followed drone attacks on the kingdom, complicating a conflict that now includes nearly every country in the region. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail sensitive military operations, said the two attacks were not connected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Drone strikes also ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at a port in Egypt, a close U.S. ally and regional mediator that is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have been spared from direct military action during the war. A strike by Iran or its allies, if confirmed, would mark a significant widening of the conflict.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The U.S.-Saudi strikes came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed his first meeting with Trump since they launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">An Israeli official briefed on the meeting Tuesday at the White House said Netanyahu assured Trump that it is the U.S., not Israel, that is in the driver&#8217;s seat with Iran, attempting to push back on the notion that he\u2019s increasingly out of step with his closest ally on the way ahead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Yet, Israeli officials also have privately expressed concern that Trump, with midterm elections looming, is trying to \u201ckeep this war on a low flame,\u201d according to a person familiar with Netanyahu&#8217;s government\u2019s internal deliberations. The person and the Israeli official were not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The person added that Israeli officials have become increasingly concerned about Trump\u2019s sensitivity to surging oil prices as <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/oil-strait-of-hormuz-iran-896c02f0c978986fff0ae7fc389ea51f\">the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> remains effectively closed to global energy shipments and about the growing trepidation among some in the U.S. administration about the burn rate of critical missile interceptors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The recent fighting with Iran used up more of the U.S. military\u2019s already diminished stockpiles of <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-ukraine-war-patriot-missile-system-explainer-b16125509161de8a7a3b4c38022534c7\">Patriot<\/a> and <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/thaad-israel-missile-defense-iran-pentagon-34a0b06d82352df6cb0b80d94d4913c8\">THAAD interceptors<\/a>, potentially putting American troops at more risk if hostilities resume, according to an analysis released this week from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has told Trump that the state of the munitions stockpile could have an impact on military operations in Iran, according to another U.S. official. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations, said the message was delivered as part of Caine\u2019s regular duties of providing military advice and options to Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The Trump administration does not seem to have a strategy to resume negotiations with Iran over ending the conflict. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Despite efforts by some mediators to get talks restarted \u2014 or at least find a point at which they could begin again \u2014 the administration is not actively pursuing talks at the moment, a senior U.S. official said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the latest developments in the region suggested that any resumption in direct diplomacy was not imminent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Analysts called the uncertainty and lack of strategy a result of deep, growing mistrust between Washington and Tehran, especially after an <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-us-war-interim-peace-deal-explainer-246fec7874bd4d9a270de32642b6f19c\">interim ceasefire proposal<\/a> signed in mid-June collapsed in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said senior Iranian officials were nearly unanimous in their decision to approve that memorandum of understanding with the U.S. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cBut now none of them believe that Trump is a reliable negotiating partner,\u201d he said. &#8220;The problem, I think, is that Trump also has now the same impression about the Iranians.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In some respects, the on-again, off-again nature of talks and back-and-forth military attacks should not be surprising.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The history of U.S. negotiations with Iran after 1979 is littered with failure, false starts and stops, and military actions that have nonetheless stopped short of the kind of conflict the two countries are now in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Despite its flaws, the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran secured by the Obama administration was the first major agreement between the two countries since the Algiers Accords in 1981 that ended the American hostage crisis and laid a patchwork path for the resolution of other issues, including the unfreezing of Shah-era Iranian assets seized by the U.S. after the Islamic Revolution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">However, even from the beginning, both sides accused each other of violating the terms of these deals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Accusations of violations of the Algiers Accords, which led to a period of great animosity, including U.S. support for Saddam Hussein\u2019s Iraq during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, became the norm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Despite the semi-rapprochement around the 2015 nuclear deal, Trump\u2019s withdrawal from it in 2018 during his first term, his imposition of a \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d sanctions campaign against Tehran, and the U.S. assassination of Iran\u2019s top military leader Qassem Soleimani in early 2020, sent the relationship to new lows.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">___<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">Amiri reported from New York. Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON &#8212; The stop-start fighting between the United States and Iran appears to have entered a new phase as Saudi Arabia publicly joins military escalations against Tehran-backed proxies. At the same time, an already untenable diplomatic effort to end the war has faltered once again as mistrust deepens between the longtime adversaries. Despite several days&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/f0f6fa63-487c-4b86-b415-196631e67b59\/wirestory_cbb2c3f49f3072c542fc6395468b64b5_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}