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 US-Iran war, raising ‌the prospect of threats to navigation through the Suez Canal, a last remaining safe export route for Saudi oil.

The Egyptian cabinet said on Thursday that an initial investigation showed that an unidentified drone caused a fire on Wednesday on two vessels at Damietta port, near the Suez Canal, which links the Mediterranean with the Red Sea.

No group has claimed responsibility, the cabinet said, adding that authorities were taking measures to protect Egypt's national security.

Trading sources familiar with the incident said ​the drone hit US-owned gas storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that spread to another vessel.

Overnight, the US military said it struck Iran's Revolutionary Guards' military command centers and ​drone facilities after Tehran fired at US forces in the region.

Iranian state media, quoting the Guards, said three civilians were killed and two children wounded ⁠in US strikes on Qeshm Island, while three Guards members were killed in Zanjan province.

The governor of Khuzestan province, cited by Iranian state media, said two student dormitory complexes in the southwestern city ​of Ahvaz were damaged in the overnight attacks.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it struck the US-run Azraq base in Jordan in response to the US strikes.

"With the help of God, the aggressor will ​be punished today," it said earlier in a statement carried by state media.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment about damage at the Azraq base.

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

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.

(Cover: A container ship crosses the Suez Canal towards the Mediterranean sea in Ismailia, Egypt, November 25, 2025. /VCG)