The United Arab Emirates on Friday blamed Iran for attacks on two vessels linked to its state-owned oil company as they passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has imposed an effective blockade of the strait, frequently attacking commercial ships, and wants to charge users for passage, which the US fiercely opposes.
The UAE foreign ministry denounced what it called “the hostile Iranian attack” targeting two vessels affiliated with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), “with no injuries reported”.
ADNOC confirmed “two of its vessels were attacked while transiting” the waterway on Thursday evening, adding the situation was “brought under control”, the official WAM news agency reported.
Last week, ADNOC had said three of its tankers had been attacked in the strait, with the UAE foreign ministry reporting an attack on an ADNOC tanker a day later.
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Continued attacks in the strait, which was free to transit before the Middle East war began in February, led to the collapse of an April ceasefire between the United States and Iran.
A June deal — meant to serve as a jumping-off point for negotiations on a permanent settlement — had said Iran and Oman, also bordering the waterway, would hash out future arrangements for the strait in discussion with other Gulf countries and “in line with the applicable international law”.
Last week, Iranian security chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr laid out a laundry list of conditions for reopening the strait, including an end to the “war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq”.
He also demanded the lifting of a parallel US naval blockade of Iran, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen assets, and compensation for wartime damage, according to remarks reported by Tasnim news agency.
AFP
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