Iraq Hunts Drone Operators Behind Saudi Pipeline Attack as CENTCOM Confirms Hormuz Mines Are Cleared

Since Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline was struck this week, forcing its temporary shutdown, the fallout has spread from Baghdad to Tokyo to Washington. Brent crude has been whipsawing, spiking above $140 a barrel after the attack before sliding back below $105 as Saudi Arabia rerouted crude through Oman, according to prior reporting on the disruption.

Iraq Launches a Manhunt

Saudi Arabia says drones that hit the East-West pipeline were launched from Iraqi territory, according to Fox News. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered an investigation and dismissed the senior military commander responsible for the area the drones allegedly launched from.

Iraqi security forces have also closed the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran and launched what Reuters described, per two Iraqi security sources cited by Fox News, as a wide-ranging operation to identify and apprehend those responsible. No arrests have been announced. Which group carried out the strike, and whether it had Iranian backing, remains unconfirmed.

The East-West pipeline is Saudi Arabia's main way of moving crude to the Red Sea without touching the Strait of Hormuz. Fortune's research arm found that the East-West line and the UAE's bypass pipeline together carried roughly 5 million additional barrels a day in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the fourth quarter of 2025, acting as one of the biggest shock absorbers against the Hormuz disruption. Fortune's analysis notes more than one in five barrels of seaborne oil traded in the second quarter moved along different routes than before the crisis began, and that two-thirds of global energy trade passes through maritime chokepoints in the first place.

CENTCOM Says the Mines Are Gone

U.S. Central Command says American forces have cleared Iranian sea mines from Hormuz's internationally recognized shipping lanes, according to Breitbart's account of a Thursday briefing by CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper. Cooper called it a "major milestone," saying Navy divers, SEALs and airpower from four service branches spent months clearing the Traffic Separation Scheme that Iran's Revolutionary Guard mined.

CENTCOM says a naval blockade has kept Iranian oil exports at zero since mid-July. President Trump says the pressure has left Tehran "begging to make a deal." No Iranian official has confirmed that characterization. In fact, Iranian state media outlet IRNA reported earlier this month that acting Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Seyyed Majid Ibn al-Reza said Tehran could target U.S. assets, and Iranian officials separately said they would announce a new exclusion zone outside the strait, according to the Epoch Times. The White House has said the Strait remains open and under U.S. control regardless of any Iranian exclusion zone. Whether Iran is actually seeking negotiations or simply managing a weakened hand is an open question.

AI Weapons and a $10 Million Bounty

Anthropic said it blocked users based in Houthi-controlled northern Yemen who tried to use its Claude chatbot to develop guidance, navigation and control software for weapons, including a hypersonic glide missile, according to Fox News. The company said the users failed to build an operational weapon but did conduct an unsuccessful test of a guided rocket before their accounts were shut down. A member of the Houthis' political bureau denied the group relies on public AI tools for weapons development, saying its programs are built independently. Anthropic's report and the Houthi denial are in direct conflict, with neither side having produced evidence resolving it.

The State Department's Rewards for Justice program announced up to $10 million for information on senior al-Qaeda figures it says are based in Iran, including Sayf al-Adl, Abd al-Rahman al-Maghrebi and Yasin al-Suri, timed to the 25th anniversary of September 11.

Governments Move to Shield Consumers

In Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered what he called a "mobilisation" against fuel prices and tied energy security directly to Middle East diplomacy, writing on X that restoring freedom of navigation through Hormuz is the priority, according to Euronews. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni scrapped the stamp duty tax on small and medium-powered cars, calling it one of the most hated taxes in Italy. Both moves come as France posted 2.7% inflation and Italy 3.3% in August, driven heavily by energy costs, with both countries facing elections in 2027.

Japan, which got 93% of its crude through Hormuz before the crisis, has gone further structurally. Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu has now called his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi nine times since March, according to Asia Times. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government has released stockpiled oil twice, cut the private sector's mandatory reserve requirement from 70 to 55 days, and unveiled the POWERR GX package, which includes a proposed state reinsurance mechanism after private war-risk insurers invoked 72-hour cancellation clauses in the crisis's early days. Japan's oil imports in the second quarter were 43% lower than a year earlier, per the Hudson Institute, even with those interventions.

What remains unresolved: Iraq has not named a suspect in the pipeline attack, the East-West pipeline's restart date hasn't been announced, and no source confirms Iran has made any actual overture to Washington despite Trump's claim.