Updated

The United States carried out a renewed wave of strikes against targets in Iran overnight into Thursday, 30 July 2026, in retaliation for what Washington described as an attempted surprise missile attack by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The strikes followed President Donald Trump's public vow to hit Iran "very hard" after a drone attack damaged a U.S.-owned gas storage vessel at Egypt's Damietta port. Israeli and international outlets tracked the exchanges through live coverage as the direct US-Iran confrontation entered a further round of escalation. The renewed American bombardment mattered because it deepened a direct state-on-state conflict that had already drawn in Iran-aligned forces across Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon, and it coincided with attacks on energy and maritime infrastructure well outside the traditional Gulf theatre. Regional governments, including Egypt, warned that the cycle of strike and counter-strike risked a broader regional war. Energy markets and shipping operators watched closely given the exposure of oil and gas facilities and transit chokepoints.