ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday deplored the “Iranian attack” on two vessels belonging to its state-owned energy company as they transited the Strait of Hormuz, adding that no injuries were reported. The assault brought the total number of attacks on Abu Dhabi’s commercial fleet since the outbreak of the Iran war to at least 17.
The Emirati foreign ministry “strongly condemned and denounced the hostile Iranian attack that targeted two vessels affiliated with [the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company] ADNOC as they transited the Strait of Hormuz, with no injuries reported.”
The ministry slammed the attack “a flagrant violation” of United Nations resolutions stipulating “freedom of navigation,” and rejected “the targeting of commercial vessels or the obstruction of international maritime routes.”
“Targeting commercial shipping and using the Strait of Hormuz as a tool of economic coercion or blackmail represents acts of piracy by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC], and constitutes a direct threat to the stability of the region, its peoples, and global energy security,” Abu Dhabi said.
The UAE urged Iran to “halt these unprovoked attacks, ensure its full commitment to an immediate cessation of all hostilities, and the complete and unconditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz in order to safeguard regional security, and maintain the stability of the global economy and trade.”
The latest attack comes as repercussions from the Iran war continue to reverberate across the region since the conflict’s outbreak in late February, when the US and Israel launched thousands of strikes across Iran.
Tehran responded with thousands of drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, targeting alleged US assets – particularly in Gulf Arab states – and launching retaliatory attacks against Israel.
The warring sides reached a preliminary ceasefire in early April, followed by a Pakistan-mediated Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, signed by Tehran and Washington in mid-June, establishing a truce on all fronts.
Despite the agreement, the two sides engaged in several rounds of strikes and counterstrikes, the latest of which escalated on July 8 and ended in late July.
A mild de-escalation has since taken hold. However, a US naval blockade on Iranian ports remains in effect, as Iran continues to claim sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting commercial shipping and requiring vessels to obtain authorization for passage.
For its part, the UAE’s state-run energy giant ADNOC has reported at least 17 targeted attacks on its commercial fleet since the outbreak of the six-week war – including crude carriers, product tankers, and offshore support vessels – in the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, and the Strait of Hormuz. The assaults have resulted in at least one fatality and over a dozen crew injuries, as well as structural damage and onboard fires across multiple ships.