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The United States and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday evening conducted joint precision airstrikes targeting Iran-backed militias in Eastern Iraq. The strikes follow a “surprise” missile attack on a U.S. base in Jordan earlier in the day.

According to a statement from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), U.S. and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple logistics and weapons sites. CENTCOM described the targets as belonging to Iran-aligned groups that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had directed to carry out attacks on U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure.

Tuesday’s operation was launched in response to more than 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks over the preceding 72 hours. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense stated that its air defenses had intercepted and destroyed several drones launched from Iraqi territory that targeted petroleum facilities in the Eastern Province and Riyadh regions.

Saudi Arabia’s statement framed the strikes as precise and targeted actions against objectives linked to those attacks, conducted in coordination with CENTCOM, and emphasized the kingdom’s right to self-defense while stating it does not seek escalation.

Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), an umbrella organization that includes Iran-backed groups integrated into Iraq’s security structure, reported that the strikes hit headquarters and facilities in multiple locations, including Baghdad and sites in other provinces. The PMF said at least 20 of its members were killed and 32 wounded, with damage to buildings and facilities.

CENTCOM Commander and four-star Navy general Admiral Brad Cooper has identified a threat that helps Iran target U.S. bases in the Middle East: cellphone footage.

Social media posts and videos posted online are giving the Iranians clues to our activities, the commander wrote in a letter Tuesday:

Admiral Brad Cooper, in a previously unreported letter, said Iran was benefiting from being able to see the success or failure of its strikes in near real-time by searching news reports or online posts by journalists referencing “reactions, photos, and footage from the cellphones of our troops.”

“The direct, unavoidable cost of this open-source intelligence could be measured in the lives of American service members and civilian residents in targeted Gulf countries,” Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, wrote in his July 28 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

He called on troops to “redouble our focus on operational security,” without prescribing specific steps in the memo.

Cooper’s memo underscores the mounting tensions between real-time news reporting on the war, often aided ⁠by satellite imagery and first-person accounts, and the desire by the U.S. military to restrict any information that could aid Iran as it tries to kill and wound U.S.… https://t.co/0OBN2o1rtg

— Phil Stewart (@phildstewart) July 29, 2026

The top U.S. commander in the Middle East is warning American troops that their own cellphone videos could help Iran kill U.S. service members.

Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, issued the stark warning in a July 28 letter as the military moves to crack down on troops posting footage from bases targeted by Iranian missiles and drones.

Cooper said Iran is watching videos, photos and news reports in near real time to figure out whether its strikes are hitting American positions.

Personnel deployed across the Middle East could soon be ordered to surrender their phones, according to Reuters, even as thousands of troops rely on mobile devices to communicate with spouses, children and other family members back home.

‘The direct, unavoidable cost of this open-source intelligence could be measured in the lives of ​American service members and civilian residents in targeted Gulf countries,’ Cooper wrote to the troops in letter dated July 28.

The warning comes as U.S. forces remain under pressure across the region following the collapse of President Donald Trump’s ceasefire with Iran.