Drone strikes signal escalating threat to Iraqi oil sector

BASRA - Armed drones struck five oil sites in southern Iraq on Saturday in an apparent escalation of threats against American companies and the broader oil sector.

The attacks appeared to signal a hardening determination by Iran-aligned armed groups to treat Iraq as a major theater in the broader war with the U.S. and Israel, providing a stark contrast to a dovish statement — also issued on Saturday — by an Iranian military spokesperson who said Iraq, as a "brotherly country," would now be "exempt from any restrictions we have imposed on the Strait of Hormuz."