Drone strike near Suez Canal in Egypt raises new security threat in widening war

A drone strike on gas vessels in Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta signaled a potential new front in the U.S.-Iran war on Thursday.

It raised the prospect of threats to navigation through the Suez Canal, a last remaining safe export route for Saudi oil.

What happened in the Damietta drone strike?

An unidentified drone caused a fire on Wednesday on two vessels at Damietta port, near the Suez Canal, Egypt's cabinet said on Thursday. The canal links the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. No group has claimed responsibility, and authorities said they were taking measures to protect Egypt's national security.

Trading sources familiar with the incident said the drone hit U.S.-owned gas storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that spread to another vessel. The strike marks Egypt's first such incident since the war began, widening the conflict beyond its original battle lines.

How is the wider U.S.-Iran war escalating?

Overnight, the U.S. military said it struck Iran's Revolutionary Guards' military command centres and drone facilities after Tehran fired at U.S. forces in the region. Iranian state media, quoting the Guards, said three civilians were killed and two children wounded in U.S. strikes on Qeshm Island, while three Guards members were killed in Zanjan province. Iran's Khuzestan governor said two student dormitory complexes in Ahvaz were damaged in the overnight attacks.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it struck the U.S.-run Azraq base in Jordan in response. "With the help of God, the aggressor will be punished today," it said in a statement carried by state media. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment about damage at the base.

U.S. bases in Jordan have lately become primary Iranian targets. Jordan's armed forces said on Thursday they had intercepted five Iranian missiles.

Which other countries have been drawn into the conflict?

An Iranian attack also hit a building owned by a Chinese company in northern Kuwait, killing a worker and inflicting significant damage, Kuwait's Defense Ministry said. Saudi Arabia on Wednesday publicly joined strikes alongside U.S. forces for the first time in the five-month war, targeting Iran-aligned groups in eastern Iraq in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from Iraq.

After the joint attacks, Saudi Arabia's defense minister met Vice President JD Vance in Washington on Wednesday to urge the Trump administration not to escalate the conflict further, two sources told Reuters. The war began in February, when the U.S. and Israel launched a bombing campaign in Iran that President Trump said would last only a few weeks. A ceasefire agreement in June collapsed amid renewed fighting over the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran says it now controls.

The latest strikes in Iraq and Egypt threatened to draw more Middle Eastern countries into the conflict after Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen declared a naval blockade last week on Saudi Arabia, threatening the alternative Red Sea route for its oil to Asia. Attacks on ships by Houthi militants prompted London's marine insurance market to widen its "high risk" zone in the Red Sea to cover more of the coast near Saudi Arabian ports.

Trump said he would hit Iran hard for firing missiles at U.S. forces, but that Washington was still seeking a peace deal to end a conflict that has roiled global energy and finance markets. Oil prices soared more than 8% on Wednesday before easing 1% on Thursday in volatile trade, with benchmark Brent crude trading just below $90.

Why does the Strait of Hormuz remain central to the conflict?

Iran said on Wednesday that it struck three tankers attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz along an unauthorized route. However, a QatarEnergy-controlled liquefied natural gas tanker exited the strait overnight, the first such vessel recorded leaving the waterway since July 11. Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said Tehran had given permission for the tanker to pass.

Oman has presented Iran with a Gulf-backed plan to manage the Strait of Hormuz, including collecting voluntary fees for using it, sources told Reuters on Tuesday. Tehran rejected the Omani proposal on Wednesday, though Iran's semi-official ILNA news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying talks with Oman were continuing.

After the war exposed gaps in Iran's ability to protect military sites and strategic infrastructure, Tehran was expected to receive within weeks a first shipment out of up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense missile launchers, three sources familiar with the deal told Reuters. Iran's Foreign Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment, while China's Foreign Ministry denied the report.