Trump Warns Iran of ‘Beating’ After Jordan Base Attack
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said the US would hit Iran hard after a recent attack that targeted a military base in Jordan, as the war in the Middle East...
By Marwa Rashad, Mohamed Ezz, Yasmine Ghania and Nandita Bose
LONDON/CAIRO,/WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) – A drone hit a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta, British maritime security firm Ambrey said in an initial assessment on Wednesday, and U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to retaliate against Iran for an overnight attack, as the Middle East conflictappeared to expand beyond its main fronts.
A statement from Egypt’s petroleum ministry confirmed a fire at the port but made no mention of a drone attack. It was not immediately clear who was responsible.
The drone hit floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that then spread to another vessel, three trading sources familiar with the incident said. The fire was dealt with immediately with no casualties, the petroleum ministry said.
The incident, which Trump said he had been briefed on, came amid a sharp escalation in the conflict, with Iran firing missiles at U.S. forces in Jordan and the United States and Saudi Arabia striking Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq.
Alongside Yemen’s Houthi group declaring a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, the latest exchanges suggest the conflict is spreading further than it has since U.S. and Israel started bombing Iran in February.
Trump vowed to retaliate against Iran for firing on U.S. troops days after he halted air strikes.
“So it’s our turn,” Trump told reporters at the White House. He said Washington would see if there was an agreement with Iran at some point, “but we’re going to hit them very hard.”
Iran confirmed overnight that it had fired on U.S. bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also spurned an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait.
Trump had said operations against Iran would last only a few weeks when he launched them in February but fighting has now gone on for five months with no end in sight.
Oil prices shot up on Wednesday in one of the sharpest spikes of the five-month war. Brent crude futures rose more than 8% to push the benchmark well above $90 a barrel, reversing much of a plunge earlier this week when Trump had unexpectedly halted U.S. strikes over the weekend.
The joint U.S.-Saudi attacks also mark the first time Riyadh has publicly joined strikes alongside Washington.
Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, powerful Iran-backed paramilitary groups incorporated into the Iraqi security forces, said at least 20 members were killed and 32 wounded in U.S.-Saudi strikes targeting several bases across Iraq.
Iraqi men shouted Shi’ite sectarian slogans and “Death to America!” as they carried the bodies of slain fighters in body bags.
Washington and Riyadh said they struck the Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from Iraq.
It was the first major U.S. military action in the Middle East since last Friday, when Trump abruptly suspended an intensive bombing campaign after 13 days, having been advised by commanders that the strategy had run its course.
U.S. officials have privately cautioned that resuming major combat operations against Iran would carry risk given the negative impact on stocks of munitions.
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 interceptor inventories and fewer than 250 THAAD interceptors — two key air defense systems.
Though Iran denies its forces have directed strikes from Iraqi territory, Iranian newspaper Hamshahri reported that four Iranian Revolutionary Guards advisers had been killed in the strikes on Iraq.
The strikes on Iraq expose a dangerous rift in that volatile country. The Shi’ite-led government is one of the few in the world to balance close military and diplomatic ties with both Tehran and Washington, but those divided loyalties are a constant source of tension and frequent domestic unrest.
The office of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who took power just two months ago, urged the parties involved to avoid escalation and said he wanted to keep the country out of regional conflicts.
The Iraqi presidency denounced the strikes on the paramilitaries as “an unacceptable attack and a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty,” while also calling for a halt to attacks by armed groups against Iraq’s neighbors.
The deep ties between Iran and Iraq, the two biggest Shi’ite-majority countries, are on display this week as hundreds of thousands of Iranian religious pilgrims head to shrines in Iraq for an annual observance of mourning for martyrs.
Hours before launching the joint attacks with Saudi Arabia on Iraq, the U.S. military said its air defenses had averted a surprise Iranian attack on U.S. troops in the region.
Jordan’s military said it had shot down five Iranian missiles. U.S. bases in Jordan have lately become primary Iranian targets, where three U.S. service members were killed this month in the worst U.S. losses since March.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had fired several ballistic missiles at U.S. military installations in Jordan, and had struck three tankers that were attempting to transit through the Strait of Hormuz along an unauthorized route.
(Reporting by Reuters bureauxWriting by Peter Graff, Idrees AliEditing by Toby Chopra and Sanjeev Miglani)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026.This article contains reporting from Reuters, published under license.
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Facts Only
Donald Trump vowed to retaliate against Iran following attacks on U.S. forces in Jordan.
A drone hit the Energos Winter, a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker, at Egypt's port of Damietta.
Egypt's petroleum ministry confirmed a fire at the port but did not mention a drone.
Iran confirmed firing on U.S. bases in Jordan and ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia conducted joint strikes against Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq.
Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces reported 20 members killed and 32 wounded in these strikes.
Jordan's military shot down five Iranian missiles.
Brent crude futures rose over 8% to above $90 a barrel on Wednesday.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated U.S. inventories at fewer than 1,000 Patriot and 250 THAAD interceptors.
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi and the Iraqi presidency issued statements regarding the strikes in Iraq.
Executive Summary
Tensions in the Middle East have escalated following a series of reciprocal attacks involving the United States, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and various proxy groups. Recent Iranian missile strikes on U.S. bases in Jordan and drone activity targeting a U.S. tanker in Egypt have prompted President Donald Trump to vow a "hard" retaliation. In a significant shift in regional dynamics, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia launched joint strikes against Iran-backed paramilitaries in Iraq, citing retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets.
The conflict is expanding geographically, with Houthi-led naval blockades in Yemen and clashes in the Strait of Hormuz. While the U.S. recently paused bombing campaigns, the current surge has caused a sharp spike in global oil prices. The situation is further complicated by Iraq's internal fragility, as its government attempts to maintain diplomatic ties with both Washington and Tehran while facing domestic unrest and sovereignty violations. There remains uncertainty regarding the exact causality of the Damietta port fire and the long-term sustainability of U.S. munitions stocks.
Full Take
The strongest version of this narrative is that the Middle East has entered a phase of systemic escalation where traditional "red lines" are being erased in favor of direct state-on-state confrontation and overt joint-coalition strikes. The integration of Saudi Arabia into active U.S. combat operations marks a pivotal shift in the security architecture of the region.
The narrative relies heavily on the "tit-for-tat" framework, where every action is presented as a direct response to a prior provocation. This creates a closed loop of causality that justifies perpetual escalation. However, the inclusion of specific munitions counts from a think tank introduces a critical variable: the physical limit of U.S. defensive capabilities. This suggests a hidden tension between political rhetoric ("hit them very hard") and material readiness (low interceptor inventories).
The driving paradigm is one of "managed instability," where regional powers use proxy targets to signal strength without triggering total war, yet the risk of accidental escalation is increasing. The primary beneficiaries are those who profit from oil price volatility and the defense industrial complex. The cost is borne by the sovereignty of Iraq and the safety of maritime trade.
Patterns detected: none
If this were an influence campaign, the playbook would involve "fear-pacing"—alternating between reports of imminent disaster (tanker hits, missile volleys) and assurances of strength (vows to hit hard) to create a psychological state of dependency on a "strongman" leader. The current content follows standard reportage of events and does not match this structural manipulation.
Bridge Questions:
1. How does the discrepancy between the Egyptian ministry's report and the maritime security firm's assessment change the understanding of the Damietta incident?
2. If U.S. munitions are indeed low, does the vow to "hit hard" serve as a deterrent or a strategic bluff?
3. What are the domestic political implications for the Iraqi government when its sovereignty is violated by both its allies and its neighbors?