Security firm says drone hits oil storage tanker in Egyptian port in major escalation in Middle East

* U.S.-owned floating oil storage tanker hit by drone, Ambrey says

* Egypt’s oil ministry confirms port fire but makes no mention of drone attack

* Joint US and Saudi strikes hit Iran-backed targets in Iraq

* Oil prices rise above $90 a barrel as diplomatic efforts fail

* Iran says it targeted three ships in Strait of Hormuz

Author: Marwa Rashad, Mohamed Ezz and Yasmine Ghania

LONDON/CAIRO – A drone hit a U.S.-owned gas tank on a ship in Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta, British maritime security firm Ambrey said in a preliminary assessment on Wednesday, potentially signaling a broadening of the Middle East conflict beyond areas directly involved in the fighting.

A statement from Egypt’s oil ministry confirmed the fire at the port but made no mention of the drone attack. It’s unclear who is responsible. Three trade sources familiar with the incident said the drone struck the floating oil storage tanker Energos Winter, sparking a fire that later spread to another vessel. The oil ministry said the fire was put out immediately and no one was injured.

The incident occurred as the conflict escalated sharply, with Iran firing missiles at U.S. troops in Jordan and the United States and Saudi Arabia attacking Iranian-backed armed groups in Iraq.

In addition to Yemen’s Houthi rebels announcing a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, the latest exchanges suggest the conflict is spreading more deeply than it has since the United States and Israel began bombing Iran in February.

U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to retaliate against Iran for firing on U.S. troops, days after halting airstrikes.

“We’re going to hit them hard,” Trump was quoted as saying by Fox News. “We’re going to beat the hell out of them.” Iran confirmed overnight that it had opened fire on U.S. bases in Jordan and ships in the Strait of Hormuz and rejected Oman’s offer to jointly manage the strait.

When Trump launched the campaign against Iran in February, he said it would last only a few weeks, but the battle has now been going on for five months with no end in sight.

Oil prices soared on Wednesday, one of the sharpest spikes in the five-month war. Brent crude futures rose more than 8%, pushing the benchmark above $90 a barrel, reversing a plunge earlier this week when Trump unexpectedly called off a U.S. weekend strike.

Iraq chants “Death to America”

The joint U.S.-Saudi attack also marks the first time Riyadh has publicly launched an attack with Washington.

The Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces are a powerful Iranian-backed paramilitary group integrated into the Iraqi security forces. The group said at least 20 of its members were killed and 32 injured in U.S. and Saudi attacks on multiple bases across Iraq.

Iraqi men chanted Shia sectarian slogans and “Death to America!” as they carried the bodies of slain fighters in body bags. Washington and Riyadh said they struck Iran-backed militant groups in Iraq in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from Iraq.

It is the first major U.S. military operation in the Middle East since Friday, when Trump abruptly suspended an intensive bombing campaign after 13 days after commanders told him the strategy was over.

U.S. officials have privately warned that resuming major combat operations against Iran would be risky given the negative impact on ammunition stockpiles.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, estimated this week that the U.S. military has fewer than 1,000 Patriot interceptors and less than 250 THAAD interceptors, two key air defense systems.

Although Iran denies that its forces launched the attack from Iraqi soil, Iranian newspaper Hamshahri reported that four Iranian Revolutionary Guard advisers were killed in the attack on Iraq.

Iraq’s dangerous rift

The attack on Iraq exposed dangerous fissures in the volatile country. The Shiite-led government is one of the few in the world that maintains close military and diplomatic ties with Tehran and Washington, but these divided loyalties have been a source of tension and frequent civil unrest.

The office of Prime Minister Ali Zaidi, who took office two months ago, urged all parties involved to avoid escalation and said it wanted to keep the country away from regional conflicts.

Iraq’s president condemned the attack on the paramilitary forces as “an unacceptable attack and a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty” while also calling on armed groups to cease attacks on Iraq’s neighbors.

The deep ties between Iran and Iraq, the two largest Shia-majority countries, were on display this week as hundreds of thousands of Iranian religious pilgrims traveled to Iraq’s holy sites for annual mourning for the martyrs.

US says it averted Iranian attack on its troops Hours before launching a joint attack with Saudi Arabia on Iraq, the US military said its air defenses had averted a surprise Iranian attack on US forces in the region.

The Jordanian military said it shot down five Iranian missiles. U.S. bases in Jordan have recently become a major target for Iran, with three U.S. service members killed this month, the worst U.S. losses since March.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they fired several ballistic missiles at U.S. military installations in Jordan and hit three oil tankers as they tried to cross the Strait of Hormuz along an unauthorized route.

This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.