U.S. strikes Iran again as conflict widens to Egyptian port

The United States carried out a fresh wave of airstrikes on Iran overnight into Thursday, targeting dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sites in retaliation for Iranian missile attacks on American forces. At the same time, a drone strike on a U.S.-linked gas tanker at Egypt’s Damietta port marked a significant geographic expansion of the five-month-old war, raising fresh concerns about threats to global energy shipping beyond the traditional flashpoints in the Gulf.

The latest U.S. strikes

According to the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the operation began at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday (0000 GMT Thursday) and lasted about two hours. It hit military command centres, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defence sites, and maritime assets belonging to the IRGC.

CENTCOM described the action as “a powerful response” to Iran’s attempted ballistic missile attacks the previous day on US forces based in the Middle East, including bases in Jordan. All of those Iranian missiles were intercepted, the U.S. military said. Jordan separately reported that it had shot down five Iranian missiles aimed at its territory.

U.S. President Donald Trump had earlier vowed to “hit them very hard” after the Iranian launches. Iranian state media reported that the US strikes killed three people – a couple and their two-year-old child – when a residential building was hit on Qeshm Island in the Gulf. Other areas in southern and western Iran were also affected.

These strikes followed a brief pause in direct U.S.-Iran exchanges and form part of a broader pattern of tit-for-tat attacks that has characterised the conflict since it began.

Attack on Egypt’s Damietta port

Earlier on Wednesday, a drone struck the U.S.-owned floating storage and regasification vessel Energos Winter at Damietta port on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. The resulting fire spread to a second vessel, the GasLog Salem. Crews were evacuated and the blaze was brought under control with no reported casualties.

Egypt’s government later confirmed that preliminary investigations determined a drone caused the incident. No group has publicly claimed responsibility. Maritime security firms and trading sources identified the strike, and Iranian officials speaking anonymously to media outlets indicated it was intended as a signal of Tehran’s ability to disrupt international shipping and energy supplies more widely if the conflict escalates further.

Damietta is a key LNG (liquefied natural gas) import hub. An attack there is notable because it moves the fighting outside the Persian Gulf and Red Sea theatres into the eastern Mediterranean, closer to European energy routes and the approaches to the Suez Canal.

Why these developments matter

The war began on 28 February 2026 when the United States and Israel launched large-scale joint strikes on Iran (known as Operation Epic Fury on the US side). Those opening attacks targeted Iranian leadership, military infrastructure and nuclear-related sites. Iran responded with missile and drone barrages against Israel and US bases hosted by Gulf states.

Since then the fighting has repeatedly threatened commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz – a narrow waterway through which a large share of the world’s seaborne oil passes. Iran and its allies have also leveraged proxy groups (such as the Houthis in Yemen) to pressure shipping in the Red Sea. The IRGC, Iran’s powerful parallel military force that oversees missile programmes, naval forces in the Gulf and regional proxy networks, has been a primary focus of U.S. targeting.

The latest events show the conflict continuing to draw in more countries and locations:

Joint US-Saudi strikes recently hit Iran-backed militias in Iraq, marking a more open Saudi role.
The Damietta incident represents the first confirmed attack on Egyptian territory linked to the war.
Jordan has found itself intercepting Iranian missiles aimed at or near US forces on its soil.
Oil prices have been sensitive to each escalation, reflecting fears of prolonged disruption to energy flows.

Broader context and risks

Diplomacy has repeatedly stalled. Temporary pauses in strikes have occurred, only to be broken by new attacks on forces, shipping or infrastructure. Trump has at times spoken of seeking a deal while simultaneously ordering military responses.

For ordinary observers, the rapid geographic spread can be hard to follow. What began as a U.S.-Israeli campaign focused on Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities has evolved into a multi-front confrontation involving direct strikes, proxy warfare, and threats to commercial vessels far from the original battlefield. Each new incident – whether in Jordan, Iraq, the Strait of Hormuz or now Egypt – raises the risk of further miscalculation and wider involvement by regional states that have so far tried to limit their exposure.

The situation remains highly fluid, with both sides demonstrating the capacity and willingness to strike targets that affect not only military forces but also global energy infrastructure.

With Reuters

Caption: An Iranian security man walks next to the Iranian missiles ‘Zolfaghar’ on display at the Azadi square in Tehran, Iran, 30 July 2026. The US completed a ‘heavy wave of strikes’ against dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran on 29 July 2026 in response to Tehran’s attempted missile attacks on US forces based in the Middle East a day earlier, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM). EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH