US strikes Iran as widening war engulfs more countries

LONDON/CAIRO/WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. carried out fresh strikes in Iran on Wednesday, the U.S. military said, further intensifying a five-month-old war that was already expanding beyond its main fronts to embroil additional countries in the region. "U.S. forces began launching strikes against Iran at 8:00 p.m. ET today (0000 GMT)," U.S. Central Command said in a statement. "The strikes are a powerful response to yesterday's attempted Iranian attacks on U.S. forces based in the Middle East." Oil prices shot up on Wednesday in one of the sharpest spikes of the five-month war. Brent crude futures rose more than 8% to push the benchmark well above $90 a barrel, reversing much of a plunge earlier this week when Trump had unexpectedly halted U.S. strikes. Trump told reporters "So it's our turn" and promised to "hit them very hard." The U.S.-Saudi strikes marked the first time Riyadh has publicly joined strikes alongside Washington. Iraq's PMF said at least 20 members killed and 32 wounded. CSIS estimated U.S. has fewer than 1,000 Patriot interceptor missiles and fewer than 250 THAAD interceptors.