The United Arab Emirates is blaming Iran for firing drones at two tankers operated by a state-owned oil company ADNOC as they sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, saying Friday that the attacks were acts of piracy.
The attacks caused no casualties but underlined the dangers faced by vessels seeking to move cargo through the critical waterway that leads from the Persian Gulf to the open oceans as Iran keeps a firm grip on the passage.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said two vessels were reported to have suffered minor damage when attacked by drones while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. It did not identify them as the ADNOC ships but it appeared to be the same incident.
“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, and constitutes a direct threat to the stability of the region, its peoples, and global energy security,” the UAE Foreign Ministry said.
