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Damietta Drone Fire
Egypt’s cabinet said on Thursday that a drone caused a fire aboard two vessels at Damietta port, after earlier accounts from Egyptian security sources disputed that the blaze was caused by a drone strike.
“Following the containment of the fire that affected two vessels at Damietta Port, preliminary investigations by the relevant authorities determined that it was caused by a drone”
The fire occurred Wednesday, July 29, and the cabinet said “Following the containment of the fire that affected two vessels at Damietta Port, preliminary investigations by the relevant authorities determined that it was caused by a drone,” while also saying no party had claimed responsibility and investigations were continuing.
The BBC reported that the drone reportedly hit a US-owned floating storage and regasification vessel, Energos Winter, sparking a blaze that spread to a Greek-owned LNG tanker, GasLog Salem, and that Egyptian authorities said no casualties were reported.
The Straits Times added that a drone hit a US-owned gas storage tanker at Damietta, with British maritime security firm Ambrey saying in an initial assessment that the fire spread to another vessel, Gaslog Salem.
In the same period, the US military said it struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard targets in Iran in a two-hour operation launched after Tehran fired ballistic missiles at American forces in the Middle East, with CENTCOM describing the strikes as a “powerful response” to July 28’s attempted Iranian attacks.
Competing Claims and Warnings
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned Thursday against what he described as Israeli “false-flag operations” after the drone attack at Egypt’s Damietta Port, saying Egypt’s security is of “utmost importance” to Tehran.
In a post on X, Araghchi wrote: “We must all be vigilant against Israeli plots and false-flag operations designed to undermine regional peace,” while Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said authorities had recovered the drone’s wreckage and were conducting a security analysis to determine its origin.
The BBC said US President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he had been briefed on what happened in Damietta and implied that Iran or its proxies were responsible, quoting Trump as saying, “It’s a little more of the same. But it’s going to be straightening out.”
The Arab Weekly reported that The New York Times, citing “two Iranians who asked not to be named,” said the drone attack was meant “to show that global shipping and energy supplies could be more deeply disrupted if Iran chose to escalate”.
While Egypt’s cabinet said no party had claimed responsibility and investigations were continuing, the Straits Times described how the wider conflict was already widening beyond Iran’s borders, including US and Saudi strikes in eastern Iraq and Iran firing missiles at US troops in Jordan.
Regional Risk and US Stakes
The Damietta incident was described by multiple outlets as the first time Egypt was directly impacted by the Iran war, with the Arab Weekly saying it showed “Iran war quickly expanding” and that it was the result of an attack rather than an accident.
“The Damietta incident is clearly deliberate and intentional”
The BBC said the port was continuing to operate at full capacity on Thursday and that Energos Winter and GasLog Salem left the port and moved offshore following the incident, while also noting it was not clear where the drone was launched or who was behind the attack.
The Media Line quoted Hany El-Aasar, executive director of the National Center for Studies, saying “The Damietta incident is clearly deliberate and intentional,” and argued that the attack “severely damaged Egyptian economic interests” even though the vessels were not Egyptian.
In Washington, NewsNation reported that a war powers vote came up short in the Senate, with the resolution failing 50-49, and it also said Trump vowed to keep striking Iran, quoting him: “We’re going to be hitting them very hard,” and “beat the f—ing s— out of them.”
As the conflict widened, the Straits Times reported that the US military said its two-hour operation struck dozens of targets “including military command centres, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defence sites, and maritime capabilities,” framing the US objective as diminishing threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces and commercial shipping.
