US, Iran Trade Barrages, Hopes Dim     07/30 06:12

   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 any quick 
resolution.

   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 any quick resolution.

   After a brief respite, the risk of a return to all-out war emerged once 
more, with the 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 spiraling violence underscored the difficulty of winding down a 
five-month conflict that has sent the price of fuel and other basics soaring, 
jolted the world economy, and added to concerns about American stockpiles of 
weapons needed to defend its bases and allies. After an earlier hiatus had 
given hope that diplomatic efforts were moving forward, there was no public 
sign of progress.

   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 casualties 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. President Donald Trump vowed to hit Iran "very 
hard" after it targeted the base.

   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 as well as 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 to strike 
Iran-backed militias in Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian 
advisers on Wednesday.

   Before the latest eruption, mediators had expressed optimism about bringing 
the U.S. and Iran back to the negotiating table.

   Pakistan, which had helped broker an interim agreement to end the war, said 
Thursday that diplomatic efforts were continuing.

   "The negotiations between the parties are ongoing to normalize the 
situation, particularly the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, and as well to 
de-escalate," Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said during 
a news briefing.

   Fires were reported on two natural gas vessels at an Egyptian port

   Elsewhere, British maritime security firm Ambrey said drone strikes ignited 
fires on two natural gas vessels at the Egyptian port of Damietta on Wednesday. 
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 in a statement on Facebook on Thursday that 
the facility was fully operational.

   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 another Iran-backed group -- the Houthi rebels in 
Yemen -- 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 oil 
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 separately on 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 it wouldn't 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.