Explosions in Egypt port may signal spread of war
Explosions have occurred at a Mediterranean natural gas loading port in Egypt, and British maritime security company Ambrey said a US floating storage tanker there was hit by a drone, potentially spreading a Middle East war.
The drone crashed into a ship in Egypt’s Damietta port on Wednesday, causing the fire to spread to another ship, three commercial sources with knowledge of the incident said.
Ambrey said the crew was evacuated and the fire was under control.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the incident.
Earlier on Wednesday, the United States and Saudi Arabia struck Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraq, and US President Donald Trump vowed to “punish” Iran for firing on US troops days after halting airstrikes.
Iran confirmed overnight that it had opened fire on US bases in Jordan and ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also rejected Oman’s proposal to jointly manage the strait.
“We’re going to hit them hard,” Trump said, according to Fox News.
“We’re going to bore them.”
Oil prices rose on Wednesday in one of the sharpest rallies of the five-month war. Brent crude futures rose more than 8 per cent, pushing the benchmark well above US$90 per barrel ($A130); This reversed much of the decline experienced earlier this week when Trump unexpectedly halted US strikes over the weekend.
The sudden resumption of attacks only a few days after their suspension saw a return to the volatile on-again, off-again pattern of the earlier phases of the war.
When Trump launched it in February, he said “Operation Epic Rage” would last only a few weeks, but the conflict has now been going on for five months with no end in sight.
The joint US-Saudi attacks also mark the first time Riyadh has participated in public attacks alongside Washington. This could expand the conflict by drawing Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia into fighting on a new front against Iran’s Shiite proxies.
The Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, powerful Iran-backed paramilitary groups incorporated into Iraqi security forces, said at least 20 people were killed and 32 injured in US-Saudi Arabian attacks targeting various bases in Iraq.
Iraqi men chanted Shiite sectarian slogans and shouted “Death to America!” Footage from Iraq’s Al-Ahad television showed bodies of slain fighters being carried in body bags from a hospital in Mosul in northern Iraq.
Washington and Riyadh announced that they struck Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets from Iraq.
It was the first major US military operation in the Middle East since last Friday, when Trump abruptly suspended an intense bombing campaign after 13 days after commanders reported that the strategy had achieved its goal.
Attacks on Iraq are exposing a dangerous rift in this unstable country. The Shiite-led government is one of the few governments in the world that can balance close military and diplomatic relations with both Tehran and Washington; But these divided loyalties are a constant source of tension and frequent civil unrest.
The office of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who came to power just two months ago, called on the parties to avoid escalating tensions and said he wanted to keep the country out of regional conflicts.
Hours before launching a joint attack on Iraq with Saudi Arabia, the US military said its air defenses had prevented a surprise Iranian attack on US troops in the region.
Jordanian army announced that five Iranian missiles were shot down. US bases in Jordan have recently become priority targets for Iran; Three US soldiers were killed this month in the worst US casualties since March.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said they fired several ballistic missiles at US military facilities in Jordan and hit three tankers trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz via an unauthorized route.
