A drone struck two LNG vessels docked at Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta on Jul 29 at ~14:20 GMT: the US-owned Energos Winter floating storage and regasification unit and the GasLog Salem LNG carrier. Both caught fire; both fires were extinguished within hours, and no casualties were reported. Egypt's cabinet confirmed the fire was drone-caused. No group has claimed responsibility.

The strike is the first to hit Egyptian soil since the war began in February, a meaningful widening given Egypt's role as gatekeeper for the Suez Canal and SUMED pipeline, the primary route for Gulf crude bypassing a closed Strait of Hormuz. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi did not directly address Iranian involvement; he instead warned of "Israeli plots" and false-flag operations while calling Egypt "an important friend," a deflection rather than a denial. Iranian state television had reportedly floated Damietta as a possible retaliation site against Ukrainian interests two days earlier, after a Ukrainian strike on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea.

The incident lands the same cycle as Iranian drone claims against US-linked bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, still unconfirmed by those governments, and a formal CENTCOM rejection of three separate Iranian claims about Hormuz routes, US aircraft losses, and a tanker blockade breach.

Watch for an Egyptian attribution statement, any second strike on Egyptian territory, and insurance repricing on Mediterranean LNG terminals.