ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq on Wednesday denounced the US-Saudi targeting of Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) positions across the country, noting the strikes coincided with its communication with “concerned parties" to verify Saudi claims of an attack on its oil facilities launched from Iraqi territory.
Baghdad also announced an "integrated security plan" to confront violations of its sovereignty and prevent any side from using Iraqi soil to attack neighboring countries as well.
Iraq's National Security Council convened an "emergency meeting" chaired by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi "to discuss the developments of the security situation and the attack launched by the American and Saudi air forces this morning, which resulted in a group of innocent martyrs and wounded," government spokesperson Sabah al-Numan said in a statement.
The Council condemned the targeting, "which came at a time when the Iraqi government was communicating with the concerned parties to verify and address" Riyadh's claims "regarding the targeting of Saudi territories [from Iraq]," Numan said, reaffirmed Iraq's "firm rejection of all hostile acts, regardless of the executing entity or the justifications relied upon.”
Earlier on Wednesday, the PMF said "at least 20" of its members were killed and "32 others were injured” as a result of the joint American-Saudi strikes "which targeted a number of official headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces” in the Iraqi capital Baghdad and five other provinces.
“The announced numbers of martyrs and wounded are considered a preliminary toll subject to increase or update,” the PMF said.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Riyadh and Washington at dawn on Wednesday "conducted precision strikes in Iraq" against "Iran-aligned terrorists that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed to attack U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure."
"U.S. and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours," CENTCOM added, noting that "from February through April 2026, there were more than 600 attempted attacks on U.S. citizens and facilities by Iran-aligned terrorist militias in Iraq."
Meanwhile, the Saudi defense ministry said on Wednesday it had launched the strikes "following reprehensible drone attacks carried out against the Kingdom by Iran-backed militias in Iraq," reaffirming "the Kingdom's determination to deter the perpetrators and its right to respond."
A day earlier, Riyadh said it intercepted several drones targeting oil facilities in the country's Eastern Province, noting they had been launched from Iraqi territory, and urged Baghdad to prevent its territory from being used as a "launchpad for aggression."
Earlier this week, Iraqi Premier Zaidi had directed the relevant security agencies in his country to investigate official Saudi statements claiming the kingdom was targeted in an attempted drone attack launched from Iraq.
The National Security Council on Wednesday "decided to adopt an integrated security plan" to "confront any violation of Iraq's sovereignty" and "prevent any party from working to threaten neighboring countries [from Iraq],” Numan said.
He also affirmed Baghdad's "foreign policy based on dialogue, cooperation, respect for international law and principles of good neighborliness, and employing diplomatic means as a path to resolving conflicts," while underlining Iraq's "strategic approach to sideline itself from regional conflicts in a manner that preserves its national interests and safeguards the security of its people and its sovereignty."
Importantly, this incident comes shortly after Iraq in mid-July set a September 30 deadline to bring Iraqi armed groups - including Iran-aligned factions within the PMF - under state control, while also setting the same date for the full withdrawal of forces affiliated with the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State (ISIS).
Numan on Wednesday urged "all parties not to be drawn into paths that lead to worsening the state of instability in the region," while confirming the Iraqi government's push to implement "the security agreement for the withdrawal of the Global Coalition at the end of September 2025 and completing the procedures of the plan to restrict weapons to the state."
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