A drone caused a fire on two ships at Damietta port on Wednesday, initial investigations showed, Egypt's cabinet said on Thursday.
No party has claimed responsibility, and authorities are continuing their investigations and taking necessary measures to protect Egypt's interests and national security, the cabinet added.
The drone hit a US-owned gas storage tanker at the port of Damietta, British maritime security firm Ambrey said in an initial assessment yesterday, and US President Donald Trump vowed to retaliate against Iran for an overnight attack, as the Middle East conflict appeared to expand beyond its main fronts.
A statement from Egypt’s petroleum ministry earlier had confirmed a fire at the port
It was not immediately clear who was responsible.
The drone hit floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that then spread to another vessel, three trading sources familiar with the incident said.
The fire was dealt with immediately with no casualties, the petroleum ministry said.
The incident, which Trump said he had been briefed on, came amid a sharp escalation in the conflict, with Iran firing missiles at Jordan and the United States and Saudi Arabia striking Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq.
The latest exchanges suggest the conflict is spreading further than it has since US and Israel started bombing Iran in February.
Trump vowed to retaliate against Iran for firing on US troops days after he halted air strikes. “So it’s our turn,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
He said Washington would see if there was an agreement with Iran at some point, ‘but we’re going to hit them very hard’.
Iran confirmed overnight that it had fired on Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also spurned an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait.
Trump had said operations against Iran would last only a few weeks when he launched them in February but fighting has now gone on for five months with no end in sight.
Oil prices shot up in one of the sharpest spikes of the five-month war.
Brent crude futures rose more than eight per cent to push the benchmark well above $90 a barrel, reversing much of a plunge earlier this week when Trump had unexpectedly halted US strikes.
Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, powerful Iran-backed paramilitary groups incorporated into the Iraqi security forces, said at least 20 members were killed and 32 wounded in US-Saudi strikes targeting several bases across Iraq.
Washington and Riyadh said they struck the Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from Iraq.
It was the first major US military action in the Middle East since last Friday, when Trump abruptly suspended an intensive bombing campaign after 13 days, having been advised by commanders that the strategy had run its course.
US officials have privately cautioned that resuming major combat operations against Iran would carry risk given the negative impact on stocks of munitions.
Though Iran denies its forces have directed strikes from Iraqi territory, Iranian newspaper Hamshahri reported that four Iranian Revolutionary Guards advisers had been killed in the strikes on Iraq.
The strikes on Iraq expose a dangerous rift in that volatile country.
The office of Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi, who took power just two months ago, urged the parties involved to avoid escalation and said he wanted to keep the country out of regional conflicts.
Hours before launching the attacks on Iraq, the US military said its air defences had averted a surprise Iranian attack on US troops in the region.
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