Dubai. A drone strike on gas vessels at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta has raised fresh concerns over a possible new front in the US-Iran war, with fears that growing tensions could threaten navigation through the Suez Canal, one of the remaining safe routes for Saudi oil exports.
The Egyptian Cabinet said on Thursday that an initial investigation showed an unidentified drone caused a fire on Wednesday aboard two vessels at Damietta port, located near the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, the Cabinet said, adding that authorities were taking measures to safeguard Egypt’s national security.
Trading sources familiar with the incident said the drone struck the US-owned gas storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that spread to another vessel.
The attack came as the U.S. military said it had carried out strikes on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ command centres and drone facilities after Tehran launched attacks on American forces in the region.
Iranian state media, citing the Revolutionary Guards, reported that three civilians were killed and two children injured in US strikes on Qeshm Island, while three Guards members were killed in Zanjan province.
The governor of Khuzestan province, according to Iranian state media, said two student dormitory complexes in the south-western city of Ahvaz were damaged during the overnight attacks.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had retaliated by striking the US-run Azraq base in Jordan.
“With the help of God, the aggressor will be punished today,” the Guards said in a statement carried by state media.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on reports of damage at the Azraq base.
US bases in Jordan have increasingly become targets of Iranian attacks. Jordan’s armed forces said on Thursday that they had intercepted five Iranian missiles.
An Iranian attack also struck a building owned by a Chinese company in northern Kuwait, killing one worker and causing significant damage, Kuwait’s Defence Ministry said.
Saudis join US strikes
In the first such move since the five-month conflict began, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday publicly joined US-led strikes targeting Iran-aligned groups in eastern Iraq, in retaliation for drone attacks launched from Iraq against Saudi oil facilities.
Following the joint strikes, Saudi Defence Minister met US Vice-President JD Vance in Washington on Wednesday, urging the Trump administration not to escalate the conflict further, according to two sources who spoke to Reuters.
The war began in February when the US and Israel launched a bombing campaign in Iran that President Donald Trump said would last only a few weeks. A temporary ceasefire agreement reached in June collapsed after renewed fighting over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route that Iran says it now controls.
The latest strikes in Iraq and Egypt have raised fears that more Middle Eastern countries could be drawn into the conflict, after Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen declared a naval blockade last week targeting Saudi Arabia and threatening an alternative Red Sea route for oil shipments to Asia.
Attacks on ships by Houthi militants have also prompted London’s marine insurance market to expand its “high risk” zone in the Red Sea to cover more coastline near Saudi ports.
President Trump said Washington would respond strongly to Iranian missile attacks on US forces, but added that the United States was still pursuing a peace agreement to end a conflict that has disrupted global energy and financial markets.
Oil prices jumped more than 8 per cent on Wednesday before easing by 1 per cent on Thursday in volatile trading, with benchmark Brent crude trading just below $90 a barrel.
Iran tightens grip on key shipping route
Iran said on Wednesday that it had struck three tankers attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz using what it described as an unauthorised route.
However, a QatarEnergy-controlled liquefied natural gas tanker exited the strait overnight, becoming the first such vessel recorded by ship-tracking data to leave the waterway since July 11. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that Tehran had authorised the tanker’s passage.
Oman has presented Iran with a proposal backed by Gulf states to manage the Strait of Hormuz, including the introduction of voluntary fees for vessels using the route, sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
Tehran rejected the proposal on Wednesday, but Iran’s semi-official ILNA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying talks with Oman over the strait were continuing.
Meanwhile, after the war exposed weaknesses in Iran’s ability to protect military sites and strategic infrastructure, Tehran is expected to receive within weeks the first shipment of up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air defence missile launchers, according to three sources familiar with the deal.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while China’s Foreign Ministry denied the report.
