BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s government was racing Saturday to contain the fallout after local Iran-backed militias were accused of attacking and shuttering a key Saudi pipeline. Iraq's government confirmed the attacks had originated from its territory, pledged to investigate and dismissed a military commander.
The country is under mounting pressure to prevent local militias from aiding other Iran proxy groups across the region. It's especially acute as the Iran-backed Houthi rebels make an advance across Yemen’s west coast in a major setback to the Saudi-backed coalition that risks escalating the war in the region.
The Iraqi government has set a Sept. 30 deadline for nonstate groups to disarm, but several of the most powerful militias have said they will not comply.
The Houthis on Friday seized an island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping lane through which around 12% of global trade passes.
Their virtual control of the strait could send global oil prices — already inflated by the six-month Iran-U.S. war — spiraling. The strait has become a vital commercial lane for Saudi oil ever since the Iran war disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iraqi authorities determined that attacks targeting the east-west Saudi pipeline were launched from a site in the country’s Maysan province on the borders with Iran, the government said in a statement early Saturday.
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered an investigation into the province’s operations command and dismissed its commander, the Saturday statement said.
Saudi Arabia shut down the major, cross-country oil pipeline on Friday, saying it was a “precautionary measure” after the pipeline came under drone attack.
In a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry blamed the attacks on several drones that came from Iraq, but said the kingdom would not retaliate, to give the Iraqi government “an opportunity to take the necessary measures.”
Built in the 1980s, the East-West pipeline has played an important role in Saudi Arabia’s ability to export oil following the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war. By early June, Saudi Arabia had more than doubled oil exports from the Red Sea port at the pipeline’s end to more than 5 million barrels per day, according to the International Energy Agency.
Tehran-backed Iraqi militias have carried out strikes on U.S.-linked targets both inside and outside of Iraq since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, and have coordinated with Yemen’s Houthi rebels to attack Saudi Arabia.
In a move possibly linked to the investigation, Iraq closed two key border crossings with Iran, Iraq’s state-run news agency reported Saturday.
The report said that Iraqi officials were at the border, investigating previous “violations and infractions” at the crossings.
Valiollah Hayati, the deputy governor of Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province, named the closed crossings as Shalamcheh and Chazabeh. They are among the main official border crossings between Iran and Iraq.
Iranian state media said the measure would halt all passenger and commercial traffic through the two crossings until further notice.
Saudi Arabia and the United States bombed Iranian-backed militias in Iraq in July after blaming them for drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities that had been claimed by the Houthis. Regional officials told The Associated Press that the Houthis helped the Iraqi militias plan and execute the attacks.
The escalating fighting threatens to end a fragile truce that had largely halted Yemen’s civil war since 2022. At stake are 40 million people in the Arab world’s poorest country. The conflict killed 150,000 and brought many others to the brink of famine.
The surge in fighting in the past week has sent over 46,000 people fleeing, the U.N. migration agency said Friday.
The Houthis have been at war with Yemen’s government since 2014, when the rebels seized much of northern and central Yemen and the capital, Sanaa. Saudi Arabia entered the war the following year on behalf of the government.
Yemen's Houthi rebels chat as they check their weapons during a mobilization campaign in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
Yemen's Houthi rebels march during a mobilization campaign in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
DUBLIN (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump held talks Saturday in Dublin with his Irish counterpart Catherine Connolly during a weekend visit that's more about a major golf tournament hosted on a course he owns on the country's Atlantic coast. He also met with Ireland's Prime Minister Micheál Martin.
Trump will address the U.S. and Irish business leaders at the U.S. ambassador's official residence in Dublin before traveling to his oceanfront golf club in Doonbeg, on the other side of the country, to watch the Irish Open.
Connolly is a left-wing politician who was among those who protested when Trump visited Ireland in 2019 during his first term in office. She is now Ireland's elected, largely ceremonial head of state. A supporter of the Palestinian cause, she in the past has criticized U.S. policy in the Middle East and called Trump a “bully.”
The Irish president met Trump at the end of a red carpet at her official residence. They shook hands and chatted before going inside. He emerged alone a few minutes later and saluted as an Irish Defence Forces band played the U.S. national anthem and inspected an Irish Army honor guard.
Connolly then joined Trump outdoors to introduce the U.S. and Irish delegations before the leaders went back inside for their closed-door talks.
Trump’s visit is the latest example of blending his official duties and personal interests.
Police put up a cordon around Dublin’s 1,750-acre (700-hectare) Phoenix Park, where he met Connolly at her residence, Áras an Uachtaráin. He will meet Martin, the taoiseach, at the government’s Farmleigh state guesthouse and stop by Deerfield, the U.S. ambassador's residence.
Some residents expressed annoyance over the disruption.
“He’s causing mayhem in this city because he wants to go down to Doonbeg and play golf,” said taxi driver Christopher Fox, emphatically not a fan of Trump. “The world’s in turmoil and this fella’s down playing golf.”
University student Mina Petrovski said Trump’s “attitudes towards women, towards immigrants, towards minority communities in general are abhorrent.” She said it’s “shameful that the Irish government is welcoming him with open arms.”
Separately, a collection of left-leaning opposition parties, anti-military groups, pro-Palestinian organizations, environmentalists and others plan to demonstrate against Trump in Dublin on Saturday.
Trump's son, Eric, says the family is loved in Ireland, despite the protests planned over his father's visit.
Speaking to Irish national broadcaster RTE on Friday in Doonbeg, home to the Trump International golf resort, Eric Trump said the course is the largest employer in the area.
“Go down to Morrissey’s tavern in Doonbeg and hear from a real Irish person as to whether or not they like President Trump and the Trump family, go have them attest to what we’ve done for the country and what we’ve invested in the country and the love and respect that our family has always shown them,” he said.
Trump flew overnight to Ireland after observing the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. The Republican president spent the two nights before Friday's solemn observance giving lengthy speeches at a political pep rally in Dallas.
Martin invited Trump to visit Ireland when they met at the White House on St. Patrick's Day this year, and Ireland's political leaders will likely see the visit as a chance to maintain warm trans-Atlantic relations despite differences over trade and foreign policy, issues the White House said Trump wants to discuss.
Martin said before Trump arrived that he looked forward to discussing issues of “mutual interest” and "reaffirming the strong economic, cultural and people-to-people ties between Ireland and the United States.”
Martin also said he hopes to see an Irish winner lifting the trophy on Sunday. Ireland’s Shane Lowry topped the leaderboard at the tournament's halfway point.
Trump plays golf just about every weekend at clubs he owns in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia. His attendance at the Irish Open continues his trend of appearing at high-profile sporting events — and having a hand in organizing some of them in ways that benefit his family business. His clubs in Doral, Florida, and Bedminster, New Jersey, have each hosted professional golf tournaments this year.
The Irish Open is the second European Tour event to be held at a Trump property this year. The Nexo Championship was held last month at Trump's golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Last year, Trump went to Scotland for five days to play golf at his club in Turnberry and later inaugurated a new Trump golf course in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. During that visit, he held talks with the British prime minister and the president of the European Commission.
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, salutes from the red carpet after disembarking Air Force One at Dublin Airport in Dublin, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Security and cars at Dublin Airport ahead of the arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump on Air Force One for the start of his trip to Ireland, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA via AP)
President Donald Trump talking with reporters before boarding Air Force One, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Caroline O'Brien sweeps up outside the Igoe Inn in Doonbeg Village, ahead of President Donald Trump's visit to the Irish Open, in Co Clare, Ireland, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (Damien Eagers/PA via AP)
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays off the 6th tee on day two of the Irish Open at Trump International Golf Links Ireland in Doonbeg, Ireland, Friday Sept. 11, 2026. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)
A sign welcomes visitors to Doonbeg, Ireland, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to the Irish Open Golf. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
A general view of Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland after putting on the 14th green on day two of the Irish Golf Open in Doonbeg, Ireland, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)
