US, Iran Trade Strikes as War Spreads to Egypt, Jordan
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- US Central Command carried out "a heavy wave of strikes against Iran," hitting "dozens" of IRGC targets including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance and defense sites
- Jordan intercepted five Iranian missiles for the second consecutive day with no casualties, according to the state-run Petra news agency — both Jordan and Kuwait host American troops
- An Iranian strike hit a Chinese firm's building in Kuwait on Thursday, killing one worker and severely damaging the structure, Kuwait's military said
- Iran's official IRNA news agency reported three killed and two wounded in a strike on the island of Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that handles 20% of global oil and gas shipments and is now "effectively closed"
- The US partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Iran-backed militias in Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers
- Drone strikes ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at Egypt's Damietta port — a U.S.-owned floating storage facility and a Greek-owned tanker — in what the source calls the first direct military action against Egypt during the war
- Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman met separately with Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday, telling them Saudi Arabia wants de-escalation and a return to US-Iran negotiations
Why it matters: The conflict is now hitting Jordan, Kuwait, and Egypt — all US allies — with the source flagging that Egypt had been "one of the only countries in the Middle East to have been spared direct military action during the war," so a confirmed Iranian-linked strike there would mark a significant widening. With the Strait of Hormuz "effectively closed" and Houthis threatening to choke off the Bab el-Mandeb strait, two of the region's critical energy chokepoints are simultaneously under pressure.
