[Source: Reuters]

A drone hit a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta.

This was confirmed by the British ​maritime security firm Ambrey in an initial assessment on Wednesday, and U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to retaliate against Iran for an overnight attack, as the Middle East conflict appeared to expand ‌beyond its main fronts.

A statement from Egypt’s petroleum ministry confirmed a fire at the port but made no mention of a drone attack. It was not immediately clear who was responsible.

The drone hit floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that then spread to another vessel, three trading sources familiar with the incident said.

The fire was dealt with immediately with no casualties, the petroleum ministry said.

The incident, which Trump said he had been briefed on, came amid a sharp escalation in the conflict, with Iran firing ​missiles at U.S. forces in Jordan and the United States and Saudi Arabia striking Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq.

Alongside Yemen’s Houthi group declaring a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, the latest exchanges suggest ​the conflict is spreading further than it has since U.S. and Israel started bombing Iran in February.

Trump vowed to retaliate against Iran for firing on U.S. troops ⁠days after he halted air strikes.

“So it’s our turn,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

He said Washington would see if there was an agreement with Iran at some point, “but we’re going to hit them ​very hard.”

Iran confirmed overnight that it had fired on U.S. bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also spurned an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait.

Trump had said operations against Iran would ​last only a few weeks when he launched them in February but fighting has now gone on for five months with no end in sight.

Oil prices shot up on Wednesday in one of the sharpest spikes of the five-month war.

Brent crude futures rose more than 8% to push the benchmark well above $90 a barrel, reversing much of a plunge earlier this week when Trump had unexpectedly halted U.S. strikes over the weekend.

The joint U.S.-Saudi attacks also mark the ​first time Riyadh has publicly joined strikes alongside Washington.

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 U.S.-Saudi strikes targeting ​several bases across Iraq.

Iraqi men shouted Shi’ite sectarian slogans and “Death to America!” as they carried the bodies of slain fighters in body bags.