Morning update

Morning update

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Tensions have escalated in the region after Saudi-US attacks were carried out against Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF). This comes in response to what the US Central Command deemed as attempts by "Iran-aligned terrorist militias" to target Saudi oil facilities. 

A military source has denied accusations of Iran's involvement in the firing of projectiles from other countries at targets in the kingdom, Tehran state media reported. 

Here are the latest developments: 

At least 10 members of Iraq’s PMF were killed in the US-Saudi strikes across the country, two members told AFP. One official added that there were reports of several others wounded in other provinces, with the death toll expected to rise. 

Tehran has ruled out Oman's proposal for regional joint management of the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday. The official said that the plan has no chance of success, adding that the US and Saudi Arabia are trying to pressure Oman to advance their "unrealistic plans".

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that they shot down a Saudi reconnaissance drone "carrying out hostile operations" in the airspace of Yemen's Saada. He vowed that the group "will continue to protect the country's sovereignty, and it is our legitimate right to respond to any violation".

Three "offending" oil tankers were targeted and stopped, the navy command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced. The IRGC warned that "illegal interventions and orders of the US, a child-killing army, will not go unanswered by vessels in the region".

The IRGC also claimed attacks on a US air base and central command centre in Jordan using ballistic missiles. "The threats of the American authorities and the illegal interventions against our interests must stop," it said in a statement. ...