A drone strike that sparked fires on two gas vessels in Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta has raised a new threat to shipping through the Suez Canal, one of the last major export routes available to Saudi oil amid the expanding United States (US) and Iran war.
No one has claimed responsibility for what Egypt’s cabinet said on Thursday was an unidentified drone that caused a fire on two vessels at Damietta a day earlier.
The port lies near the Suez Canal, which links the Mediterranean and Red Seas.
The drone hit the US-owned gas storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that spread to a second vessel, people familiar with the incident said.
Iran has denied any involvement in the Damietta strike.
“Egypt is an important friend and partner in the region, and its security is of utmost importance to us,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on social media. “We must all be vigilant against Israeli plots and false-flag operations designed to undermine regional peace.”
The five-month-old war has already brought shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a slender chokepoint in the global energy trade, to a virtual standstill.
–Reuters–
