Trump warns Iran is set to "get a beating" as 5-month war expands
CBS News · LC · trust 73/100
Updated on: July 29, 2026 / 1:01 PM EDT / CBS News
A British shipping firm reported an explosion Wednesday at an Egyptian commercial port on the Mediterranean Sea, near the mouth of the Suez Canal, which links Europe to the Red Sea and Saudi Arabia's major oil and gas port of Yanbu.
London-based Inchcape said in a statement that an explosion at Egypt's Damietta Port "specifically at the LNG [liquefied natural gas] terminal during cargo discharge operations," had caused a partial closure of the facility, though local authorities responded promptly to bring the situation under control.
"The vessels involved have been safely relocated outside the port area," the company said, adding that port operations were expected to resume overnight "at other berths and terminals."
Inchcape's main office told CBS News it could not provide any further information, and there was no immediate response from its Egypt office.
Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen have attacked several ships in the Red Sea recently, after announcing a blockade of Saudi Arabia's Red Sea shipping operations.
The Ambrey Maritime Security company said Wednesday that at least one drone struck a U.S. LNG storage facility at Damietta, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility by Iran or the Houthis.
If an attack is confirmed, it would be one of the first targeting energy infrastructure to extend beyond the immediate Persian Gulf and Red Sea regions into the Mediterranean since the war with Iran began five months ago.
The U.S. government announced further sanctions against Iranian entities on Wednesday as part of efforts to cut off Iran's energy income and counter the Islamic Republic's efforts to exert control over commercial shipping and charge fees for use of the Strait of Hormuz.
In a statement released by the State Department, spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the new sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury targeted two Iranian insurance firms, the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, which he said were backed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
He said the entities run schemes that extort international shipping by creating risk, "including the threat of vessel seizures — and then charge commercial vessels for coverage against dangers created by the regime itself, generating revenue that sustains IRGC operations and Iran's broader campaign of regional destabilization."
The U.S. also designated eight companies on Wednesday that it said operated vessels "that have transported illicit Iranian crude oil and petrochemical products to China and the United Arab Emirates" as part of Iran's "shadow fleet" of tankers.
Pigott said the sanctions would support the U.S. Navy's "enforcement of a blockade on Iranian ports and coastline and add to a sustained campaign that has now sanctioned more than 100 vessels this year."
Sabreen News, a media outlet linked to Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq that were targeted by joint U.S.-Saudi strikes on Tuesday, said Wednesday that several Iranian military advisers were among those killed in the attacks.
The news outlet released a photo showing coffins wrapped in Iranian flags with a caption reading: "The martyred Iranian advisers who were killed by the fire of the Saudi Wahhabi-American enemy in Iraq at dawn today."
Sabreen did not provide any further details on the identities of those killed, or the number of purported Iranian casualties from the strikes. The timing of the strikes was also unclear, as the U.S. military announced the attacks late Tuesday night Eastern time, which could have been early morning Wednesday in the Middle East.
The Iran-aligned Popular Mobilization Forces, an alliance of Shiite militias in Iraq, said earlier Wednesday that at least 20 of its fighters were killed in the U.S.-Saudi strikes, which the Pentagon's Central Command said had targeted "terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq."
Oil prices jumped again Wednesday, while the U.S. stock markets fell ahead of a Federal Reserve decision on what to do with interest rates.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 614 points, or 1.2%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% lower.
The action was stronger in the oil market, where the price of international benchmark Brent crude leaped 6.2% to $87.14 per barrel after fighting resumed in the war with Iran, raising concern about the global flow of oil. Iran launched a barrage of missiles at American forces in the Middle East, while the U.S. military partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Tehran-backed militias in Iraq.
Brent oil's price had swung as low as $72 early this month and as high as $102 last week on uncertainty over whether the U.S. and Iran might reach a deal to allow oil tankers to move freely again through the Strait of Hormuz, from Middle East producers to customers worldwide.
The swings have raised worries that inflation will reaccelerate, just when it had begun to slow more than economists expected. That, in turn, has traders uncertain about what the Federal Reserve will announce after its two-day meeting on interest rates concludes later in the day.
Traders are betting on a roughly 36% probability that the Fed will raise its main interest rate, which would be the first increase in three years. Higher rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they can also slow the economy and undercut prices for stocks and other investments.
Higher rates particularly hurt stocks seen as the most expensive, and scrutiny has already been rising on makers of computer chips and other winners of the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. The surges for their stock prices are backed by real growth, but it may not be sustainable if AI does not produce as much profit and productivity as hoped.
Iraq's National Security Council "expressed its condemnation and denunciation" on Wednesday of joint U.S.-Saudi strikes carried out the…
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