Arabia said yesterday two of its oil tankers were sabotaged off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in attacks the previous day that caused “significant damage” to the vessels, one of them as it was en route to pick up Saudi oil to take to the United States.
The announcement by the kingdom’s energy minister, Khalid al-Falih, came as the U.S. issued a new warning to sailors and the UAE’s regional allies condemned Sunday’s incident that targeted at least four ships, including two Saudi tankers, off the port city of Fujairah.
The statement came just hours after Iranian and Lebanese media outlets aired false reports of explosions at Fujairah’s port. Emirati officials have declined to elaborate on the nature of the sabotage or say who might have been responsible.
The U.S. has warned ships that “Iran or its proxies” could be targeting maritime traffic in the region. America is deploying an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf to counter alleged threats from Tehran.
Sky News Arabia, a satellite channel partly owned by a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family, aired footage of a tanker identified as the Al Marzoqah that it said had been targeted in the sabotage.
The broadcast only showed one side of the ship, which bore no signs of damage, describing it as the closest one to shore in Fujairah.
Tensions have risen since President Donald Trump withdrew America from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, and restored U.S. sanctions that have pushed Iran’s economy into crisis. Last week, Iran warned it would begin enriching uranium at higher levels in 60 days if world powers failed to negotiate new terms for the deal.
European Union powers were meeting yesterday in Brussels to thrash out ways to keep the Iran nuclear deal afloat, and were likely to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran. Saud Arabia is Iran’s regional rival.
The statement by al-Falih, the Saudi energy minister, said the attacks on the two Saudi tankers happened at 6 a.m. Sunday.
“One of the two vessels was on its way to be loaded with Saudi crude oil from the port of Ras Tanura, to be delivered to Saudi Aramco’s customers in the United States,” al-Falih said. “Fortunately, the attack didn’t lead to any casualties or oil spill; however, it caused significant damage to the structures of the two vessels.”
The kingdom’s Foreign Ministry on Monday condemned the incident as a “criminal act” threatening the “safety of maritime traffic, which reflects negatively on regional and international peace and security,” according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency. Jon Gambrell, Fujairah, AP
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