A report in The New York Times has attributed responsibility for Wednesday's explosion involving gas tankers at Egypt's Damietta Port to Iran.
According to the report, published Thursday morning, the attack was carried out using unmanned aerial vehicles.
Iranian officials told the Times that the strike was intended to send a signal and demonstrate that Iran is capable of disrupting international shipping lanes and the global energy supply to a far greater extent if it chooses to escalate the fighting in the region.
The report noted that the sources declined to specify whether the attack was carried out directly by Iranian forces or through one of Tehran's regional proxies, and did not disclose where the drones were launched from.
On Wednesday evening, Reuters reported an explosion involving gas tankers at a port in northern Egypt.
However, in an interview with Saudi television network Al-Hadath, Egyptian security officials rejected claims of an external attack, insisting the incident was caused by a fire that broke out in the engine room of a decommissioned vessel.
Following Thursday morning's report, Egyptian government officials said that the explosion was caused by a UAV, and the investigation is ongoing.