A drone has struck Egypt for the first time as the Middle East war threatened to draw more countries into the conflict.

The strike reportedly hit two gas storage vessels at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta, one of which was owned by a US company.

CNN reports that no one has claimed responsibility, but if confirmed as a deliberate strike, it would mark the first time Egypt has been directly drawn into the regional conflict.

The Egyptian government said there was an ongoing investigation into the incident.

Earlier, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned “countries that intervene in support of the aggressor” would receive a “harsh response”.

It came as Trump said he would hit Iran hard for firing missiles at US forces, but that Washington was also still seeking a ⁠peace deal to end a conflict that has roiled global energy and finance markets with the choking of the Strait of ‌Hormuz.

The US military struck dozens ‌of Islamic Revolutionary Guard targets in Iran in a “heavy wave of strikes” launched after Tehran fired ballistic missiles at US forces in the Middle East.

The two-hour operation “aimed to further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces, commercial shipping, and neighbouring Gulf countries”, US Central Command said on Thursday.

Iran’s state media ‌reported that three people were killed in US strikes on Qeshm Island.

Jordan’s armed forces said on Thursday that they had thwarted an Iranian attempt to target the kingdom, intercepting five missiles.

The US strikes came after Iran confirmed on Wednesday that it had fired ballistic missiles at US troops in Jordan.

CENTCOM said all of the missiles were intercepted.

US bases in Jordan have lately become primary Iranian targets.

Earlier on Wednesday, US and Saudi forces launched strikes against Iran-aligned groups in eastern Iraq, in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from Iraq.

The joint attack marked the first time Riyadh has publicly joined strikes alongside Washington.

The war began in February, when the US and Israel launched a bombing campaign in Iran that Trump said would last only a few weeks.

A temporary ceasefire agreement in June collapsed amid renewed fighting over the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway that Iran says it now controls.

Trump said he would hit Iran hard for firing missiles at US forces, but that Washington was also still seeking a ⁠peace deal to end a conflict that has roiled global energy and finance markets with the choking of the Strait of ‌Hormuz.

The waterway — which carried ​a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas before the war on Iran — lies between Oman and Iran, linking the Gulf north of it with the Gulf of Oman to the south and the Arabian ​Sea beyond.

The strait ‌has become the main hurdle in peace talks and a flashpoint for repeated escalations in the conflict.

Iran said on Wednesday that it struck three tankers attempting to transit through the strait along an unauthorised route ​and that it controls the strait.

Oman has presented Iran with a plan backed by Gulf states to manage the Strait of Hormuz, including collecting voluntary fees for using it, but Iran rejected the proposal.

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 US-Saudi strikes targeting several bases across Iraq.

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 neighbours.

Though Iran denies its forces have directed strikes from Iraqi territory, Iranian newspaper Hamshahri reported that four of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards advisers had been killed in the strikes on Iraq.

After the joint attacks, ​Saudi Arabia’s defence minister met Vice-President JD Vance in Washington to urge the Trump administration not to escalate the conflict further by attacking Yemen’s Houthis and carrying out more strikes against Iran-aligned militias ​in Iraq, two sources told Reuters.

Such escalation would open the door to “major unknown risks”, one of the ⁠sources said.

-with AAP