2 Saudi tankers ‘sabotaged’
WEST ASIA TENSIONS Suspicion on Iran and its proxies, Tehran seeks more clarification on what exactly happened
FUJAIRAH, UAE: Saudi Arabia said on Monday two of its oil tankers were targeted in “sabotage operations” off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in attacks 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 US 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.
Although details of the attacks were not disclosed, targeting tankers and commercial shipping vessels so close to the Persian Gulf has the potential to rattle global oil supplies.
The Saudi 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 US 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.
Shortly after the Saudi announcement, Iran’s foreign ministry called for further clarification about what exactly happened with the vessels. The ministry’ spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying there should be more information about the incident.
Mousavi also warned against any “conspiracy orchestrated by ill-wishers” and “adventurism by foreigners” to undermine the maritime region’s stability and security.
Authorities in Fujairah, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, declined to speak to The Associated Press on Monday. Officials stopped AP journalists from travelling by boat to see the ships.
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.
EUROPE, UK WARN US AGAINST ESCALATION
Europe on Monday urged the US not to further escalate tensions over the Iran nuclear deal, with Britain issuing a stark warning of the risk of conflict erupting “by accident” in the Gulf.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo made a last-minute visit to Brussels where he met his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany - the three European signatories to the 2015 accord that curbed Iran’s nuclear ambitions in return for sanctions relief - on the sidelines of a regular EU foreign ministers’ gathering. Iran last week announced it was suspending some of its commitments under the agreement, a year after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the accord and imposed swingeing sanctions on the Islamic republic.
Pompeo’s visit to Brussels was announced at the last minute and if he came hoping for a show of transatlantic unity against Iran, he was disappointed, with Britain, France and Germany all publicly criticising the hardline US approach. German foreign minister Heiko Maas said Berlin “still regards this nuclear agreement as the basis for Iran not having any nuclear weapons in the future and we regard this as existential for our security”.
Maas said he used his one-onone meeting with Pompeo to stress that “we are concerned about the development and the tensions in the region, that we do not want there to be a military escalation”.
British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt told reporters: “We are very worried about the risk of a conflict happening by accident, with an escalation that is unintended really on either side but ends with some kind of conflict.”
IRANIAN WOMAN GETS 10 YEARS FOR SPYING
Iran said on Monday it had sentenced an Iranian woman to 10 years prison for spying for Britain, amid rising tension between the Islamic Republic and some Western countries over its nuclear and missile programmes.
Gholamhossein Esmaili, a judiciary spokesman, said on state television that the woman worked for the British Council cultural agency and was cooperating with Britain’s foreign intelligence service, but did not identify her.