Trump faces threat of widening regional war with Iran
The Hill · C · trust 52/100
Comments: by Filip Timotija and Julia Manchester - 07/31/26 6:00 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Filip Timotija and Julia Manchester - 07/31/26 6:00 AM ET Comments: Link copied The U.S. war with Iran is flaring up across the region, threatening to pull U.S. allies into a fight that President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu started five months ago.
Egyptian leaders said on Thursday that a drone sparked a fire on two gas vessels in the port of Damietta on Wednesday, and while no one has claimed responsibility, the incident has fueled concerns about a widening war.
Wednesday’s incident comes as the U.S. launches retaliatory strikes on Iran for launching missiles on U.S. forces in Jordan earlier this week.
And Saudi Arabia teamed up with the U.S. on Tuesday night to launch joint strikes on Iranian proxy militias in Iraq. That came in response to drone strikes on the Saudi Aramco oil processing facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia.
The attack on the Egyptian port of Damietta underscores the potential vulnerabilities of the Suez Canal, which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and highlights how expanding the conflict could further disrupt global trade.
Iran pinned the blame for the tanker strike on Israel, while praising Egypt as an “important friend and partner” in the region.
“We must all be vigilant against Israeli plots and false-flag operations designed to undermine regional peace,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abass Araghchi said on social media. “The threat is clear, mutual and fearful of Muslim solidarity.”
Military experts who spoke to The Hill on Thursday were skeptical of Iran’s ability to keep up such attacks, assuming Tehran is to blame, while also questioning the strategic prudence of pulling Egypt into the war.
“It’s not clear that they’re able to do that at scale to the point where they would be significant. So if they could demonstrate, like the Ukrainians are against the Russians, that they would have the ability to conduct a sustained campaign against strategic targets like that, then that might be a little bit more influential,” said Ret. Army Lt. Gen Sean MacFarland.
He compared the drone strike to Iran’s firing at Diego Garcia , a the joint U.S.-U.K. base in the Indian Ocean earlier this year. The Diego Garcia attack didn’t land, but it shattered assumptions about Iran’s missile strike radius.
Jason Campbell, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, noted that the war has been a regional conflict since its inception in March, but characterized the latest Iranian strikes as “an uptick.”
“Perhaps what they’re doing is trying to limit some of the military options for the United States in Israel as they appear to be getting ready or preparing or staging for another set of strikes here in the near term,” Campbell said.
MacFarland said an Iranian drone strike in Egypt would not make a lot of sense in the context of the current conflict, as it antagonizes a powerful military force in the region.
“Why would you want to draw them into the conflict too? It doesn’t make a lot of sense. But sometimes these things don’t make sense,” he said. “It made no sense for Germany to declare war on the United States after Pearl Harbor.”
In response to the escalation in strikes, Trump vowed on Wednesday to “beat the f—— s—” out of Iran.
The escalations come as Trump faces growing political pressure to end the war.
An AP-NORC poll released on Thursday found that 64 percent of Americans said the conflict was “not worth fighting,” while only 33 percent said it was worth fighting.
Israel, which kicked off Operation Epic Fury with the U.S. on Feb. 28, has stayed on the sidelines so far, but vowed to retaliate if Iran levied new attacks on the country.
Prior to the latest strikes, the U.S. telegraphed it was preparing for a large-scale airstrike campaign in the region.
The U.S. deployed special operations forces to the Middle East, while more jet fighters , including F-15s from Germany and stealthy F-35s from the U.K., were staged across the region in recent weeks. Additionally, the U.S. sent an additional 150 medical personnel to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a U.S. Army post near Ramstein Air Base, in Germany.
Additionally, the State Department issued multiple travel warnings to Americans traveling and living abroad, citing an increase in threats on U.S. diplomatic facilities.
“These are all suggesting that the U.S. was getting ready to conduct a new set of strikes, and maybe expand its targets,” Campbell said.
“I think Iran saw the signs,” he added, noting Iran likely wanted to send a message that it is no longer willing to allow the U.S. and Israel to operate on their preferred timeline.
Will Walldorf, a professor at the department of Politics and International Affairs of Wake Forest University, said all of Iran’s strikes against U.S. outposts in the region are meant to signal its seriousness in not accepting terms at the negotiating table it views as inconsistent with its interests.
“After rejecting the most recent peace terms put forward by Oman, its attacks on Jordan and Egypt are meant to send this signal,” Walldorf, who is also a senior fellow at Defense Priorities think tank, told The Hill on Thursday.
“Along those lines, it is also trying to demonstrate to Trump that force is not the answer, that it won’t be bullied. It is playing a dangerous game of chicken with Trump, hoping and anticipating that at some point Trump will see that force is pointless and that talks — with reasonable terms — are the best way to go.”
Saudi Arabia said on Thursday that it hosted a meeting of representatives from 43 countries in hopes of forming a multinational maritime defense alliance…
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