An Iranian drone hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker while anchored in a port in Dubai, despite President Donald Trump’s warnings not to target vessels in the region.
Kuwait’s state news agency, citing the Kuwait Petroleum Corp., confirmed the attack on Tuesday. No oil leakage was found, and all 24 crew members were reported safe. Emirati authorities responded to the resulting fire on board.
The strike, a significant escalation, was the first Iranian attack on a vessel moored in Dubai’s port.
The Al-Salmi tanker has been stuck in the Persian Gulf since the war began last month, having been fully laden with crude when the attacks began, Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said. The ship’s hull sustained some damage from the attack.
As recently as Monday, Trump has threatened the imminent destruction of Iranian energy targets if Tehran didn’t immediately stop its harassment of trading vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
“Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched,’” he said in a Truth Social post.
The attack is a step beyond most previous harassment of ships by Iran, which has mainly targeted vessels trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The attack against a ship in a Dubai port is sure to further anger the United Arab Emirates, which has built its economy on being a safe and secure trade hub.
UAE PUSHES US TO INVADE IRAN AS GULF STATES LOBBY TRUMP TO CONTINUE WAR
The UAE has been targeted by over 2,300 Iranian drones and missiles since the start of the war, an onslaught that has hardened its position against Tehran. With its status as a safe and prosperous economy at risk, the country has adopted a position as the most hawkish of the Gulf countries, reportedly pushing the United States to carry out a ground invasion of Iran.
“An Iranian regime that launches ballistic missiles at homes, weaponizes global trade and supports proxies is no longer an acceptable feature of the regional landscape,” UAE Minister of State Noura Al Kaabi wrote Monday in the state-linked newspaper the National. She added, “We want a guarantee that this will never happen again.”