Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi suggested in a tweet that Israel was responsible for the drone strike on a gas tanker at Egypt's Damietta port, warning of 'false flag' operations. The statement follows reports attributing the attack to Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday evening issued a statement on social media in Arabic and English, suggesting that Israel was behind the drone strike on a gas tanker at Egypt's Damietta port. Araghchi warned of 'false flag operations' that he said were designed to destabilize the region, in a clear attempt to shift blame away from Iran.
The statement comes amid a rapidly evolving narrative around the Wednesday evening attack. Initial reports of a drone strike at the port were met with denials from Egyptian security sources, who attributed the blast to an engine-room fire on an aging vessel. However, Iranian sources later told the New York Times that the explosion was a deliberate drone strike intended to demonstrate Iran's ability to disrupt global energy supplies. By Wednesday night, Egyptian official sources had reportedly told the Wall Street Journal that Iran was responsible for the attack. The sequence shows a shift from denial to attribution, with Tehran now pivoting to accuse Israel.
As The Zioneer has reported, Araghchi has a history of using similar messaging in previous incidents, including implying responsibility for the downing of a US Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz in June 2026, and engaging in urgent diplomatic calls with Turkish and Pakistani officials amid rising tensions. The Damietta port incident has become a focal point of competing narratives, with Iran now attempting to portray itself as the target of a false-flag operation rather than the perpetrator.
No Israeli or Egyptian official has commented on Araghchi's claim, and the allegation remains unsubstantiated. The Al-Banna Brigades, a little-known group, earlier claimed responsibility for the attack, but that claim has not been independently verified. The identity of the perpetrators and the full circumstances of the strike remain unclear.
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