Four UAE Ships Subjected to ‘Sabotage’ off East Coast, Two of Saudi Arabia

Foreign ministry doesn’t name who was responsible but warns the incident constitutes a ‘serious development’.

Ariana News Agency- 

The United Arab Emirates said four commercial ships were subjected to “sabotage operations” after false reports circulated in Lebanese and Iranian media outlets saying there had been explosions at one of the nation’s seaports.

Emirati officials declined to elaborate on the nature of the sabotage on Sunday, or say who might have been responsible.

“Four commercial, civilian trading vessels of various nationalities this morning suffered acts of sabotage” off the UAE’s eastern coast, the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run WAM news agency.

“Subjecting commercial vessels to sabotage operations and threatening the lives of their crew is considered a dangerous development.”

The statement said the ships were near the country’s territorial waters in the Gulf of Oman, east of the port of Fujairah.

It said it was investigating the incident “in cooperation with local and international bodies”, adding there were “no injuries or fatalities on board the vessels” and “no spillage of harmful chemicals or fuel”.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said that two Saudi oil tankers were targeted the previous day in “a sabotage attack” off the coast of Fujairah and sustained “significant damage”.

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 state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco’s customers in the United States, Falih said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

The “attack” did not lead to any casualties or an oil spill but damaged the structures of the two vessels, he added.