At 17:45 Eastern time on Tuesday, Iran launched a salvo of ballistic missiles aimed at American forces in the region — a move that US Central Command (Centcom) said had been fully intercepted before causing any casualties. Tehran identified a US military installation in Jordan as its intended target, though Iranian authorities had not officially confirmed the attack by early Wednesday. The strike shattered what had briefly appeared to be a diplomatic opening: for three consecutive days before Tuesday, neither side had exchanged fire, and US President Donald Trump had described negotiations with Iran as "very friendly." That lull now looks fragile in retrospect.

It followed thirteen consecutive nights of American bombing runs, which Washington said had destroyed tunnels and bridges in southern Iran, with scores of civilian deaths reported. In response to more than thirty drone attacks attributed to Iranian-directed forces over the preceding 72 hours, the US military and Saudi Arabian forces struck what Centcom described as terrorist logistics and weapons sites in eastern Iraq. Saudi Arabia's defence spokesman, Major General Turki al-Maliki, separately confirmed that his country's military had intercepted drones targeting petroleum facilities in the kingdom's eastern region, alleging they were launched by Iran-affiliated militia groups operating from Iraqi territory. The Iran-aligned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also claimed it had struck three oil tankers navigating the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of the world's seaborne oil passes.

Markets responded sharply: Brent crude climbed 4.3% to $87.70 a barrel in Asian trading on Wednesday, while US-traded oil rose 4.2%.