Fire at UAE oil hub as Iran vows retaliation for US attack on Kharg Island

Iran warned it could target US “hideouts” in the United Arab Emirates as a major UAE energy hub suffered disruption after a drone attack on Saturday, and US President Donald Trump said “many countries” would send warships to the region. As the war entered its third week, Iran projected defiance after US forces hit military sites at its own main oil hub, warning that parts of the UAE were a legitimate target and urging civilians to evacuate. The war has killed more than 2,000 people, mostly in Iran, and created the biggest oil supply disruption in history, pushing prices sharply higher as maritime traffic has halted in a region that delivers a fifth of the world’s oil.

Some oil-loading operationshave been suspendedin the UAE’s Fujairah emirate, a major bunkering hub and crude export terminal, industry and trade sources said on Saturday, with TV footage showing plumes of dark thick smoke rising into the air. An Iranian military spokesperson called on people in the UAE to evacuate the ports, docks, and “American hideouts” saying US forces had targeted Iranian islands from those areas. Trump said many countries would send warships to allow shipping to pass freely through the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for 20% of the world’s fossil energy supplies.

He did not provide details on which countries would do so but in his Truth Social post he said he hoped that China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send ships to the area. Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, whoreplaced his slain father, has said the strategic waterway should ​remain closed as ​a tool of pressure. “Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe,” Trump wrote.

[paywall]

“In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water,” he wrote. Trump had threatened to strike the oil infrastructure of Iran’s Kharg Island hub unless Tehran stopped attacking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

[/paywall]