The United Arab Emirates have reported "sabotage" against four merchant ships off their Gulf Coast. "Four commercial, civilian merchant ships of different nationalities" had been exposed on Sunday morning unspecified attacks off the coast of the Emirate of Fujairah in the northeast of the country, said the Foreign Ministry.
No one was injured on board the ships during the incidents, according to the statement distributed by the official news agency Wam. Neither oil nor chemical substances have leaked.
In the region, tensions between Iran and the US are currently increasing dramatically.
The Ministry condemned the "serious incident". The authorities had "taken all necessary measures" and launched an investigation in cooperation with local and international organizations. In addition, the Gulf State called on the international community to prevent such actions by "parties wishing to harm the safety of shipping."
US relocate warships to the region
At the same time, the ministry objected to rumors of further alleged incidents in the port of Fujairah on Sunday morning. Among other things, the Iranian broadcaster Press TV had referred to a Lebanese news agency talked about the fact that seven oil tankers were attacked in the port of Fujairah. The exact backgrounds are currently unclear.
The US government and leadership in Tehran are facing confrontation because of the US withdrawal from the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program. Washington has sent warships to the Persian Gulf in recent days. The reason given was that US intelligence agencies had warned against attacks by the Iranians.
Tehran in turn answers with military threats. A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard official said Sunday that Iran could target US ships. "The threats have become opportunities," said the head of the Revolutionary Guard air force unit, Amirali Hadschisadeh, regarding the transfer of US aircraft carriers to the Middle East. "If (the Americans) move, we will hit them on the head," quoted the news agency ISNA.
Worry in Israel
In Israel, meanwhile, worries are mounting that an Iranian attack could threaten an escalation of the conflict. "Things are heating up," Energy Minister Juval Steinitz told TV channel Ynet.
US President Donald Trump has since the country's unilateral withdrawal from the international nuclear deal with Iran a year ago, the sanctions against the Islamic Republic gradually reinstated, and recently tightened again. Trump stressed that he could not exclude a military operation.
Iran, for its part, recently suspended parts of the nuclear agreement. Since then, tensions between the two countries are increasing. While Iran rejected Trump's offer of talks, the US warned its merchant navy against Iran's attacks and sent Patriot missiles to the Middle East.
Iranian President Hassan Rohani called for unity in his country in the face of heightened US economic sanctions. "The pressure of the enemies is an unprecedented war in the history of our Islamic Revolution," Rohani said, according to the state news agency Irna.
The Revolutionary Guards were formed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Iranian Ayatollah system. The elite force controls large parts of the army as well as the nuclear and missile program. But it also has great influence on politics and the economy.