Four ships are ‘sabotaged’ off the coast of the UAE amid fears Iran is targeting US-supporting vessels in the region
- No injuries or deaths were caused by the breach and no fuel was spilled
- Stretch of water off the Oman coast has become a flashpoint US-Iran tensions
- US aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers deployed to bolster presence in the region
The United Arab Emirates has said that four commercial ships were yesterday sabotaged in the Persian Gulf.
No injuries or deaths were caused by the breach and no fuel was spilled, according to the country’s foreign ministry which has so far stopped short of accusing someone for the incident.
In recent weeks, the stretch of water off the Oman coast has become a flashpoint in heightened tensions between the United States and Iran that have threatened to boil over since President Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions which have crippled the Iranian economy.
The alleged sabotage of the merchant ships comes as aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and B-52 bombers are deployed to bolster the American Navy’s grip on the region
And the alleged sabotage of the merchant ships comes as aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and B-52 bombers are deployed to bolster the American Navy’s grip on the region.
In an escalation of the cold war being fought by the White House and Tehran, the US also warned ships in the region that they risk attack from ‘Iran or its proxies’.
The statement from the UAE’s Foreign Ministry pinpointed the supposedly sabotaged ships near the country’s territorial waters in the Gulf of Oman, east of the port of Fujairah.
The US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which controls the waters, did not immediately offer comment on the incident.
Hours before yesterday’s sabotage, Lebanon’s pro-Iran satellite channel Al-Mayadeen, quoting ‘Gulf sources,’ falsely reported that a series of explosions had struck the strategically located Fujairah’s port.
State media in Iran picked up the report from Al-Mayadeen, which later published the names of vessels it claimed were involved in the incident.
The Navy flotilla travelled to the Oman coast has become a flashpoint in heightened tensions between the United States and Iran that have threatened to boil over since President Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal
But subsequent investigations have since found the report about explosions at the port to be untrue.
These false reports came after the warning put out by the US government alerting sea traffic to the perceived threat posed by Iranian ships.
The warning read: ‘Since early May, there is an increased possibility that Iran and/or its regional proxies could take action against US and partner interests, including oil production infrastructure, after recently threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz.
‘Iran or its proxies could respond by targeting commercial vessels, including oil tankers, or U.S. military vessels in the Red Sea, Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, or the Persian Gulf.’