Some oil-loading operations have been suspended in the UAE' Fujairah emirate, a major bunkering hub and crude export terminal, after a drone attack and fire yesterday, industry and trade sources said.
The suspension comes hours after the US attacked military targets on Iran's Kharg Island oil export terminal and Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) responded by saying that US interests in the UAE – including ports, docks and military locations – were legitimate targets.
Fujairah, outside the Strait of Hormuz, is the outlet for about 1 million barrels per day of the UAE's Murban crude oil – a volume equal to about 1pc of world demand.
A witness in Fujairah saw two separate columns of smoke rising from the terminal. Reuters could not immediately establish the impact on loadings.
Just after midnight, Fujairah's Media Office said the emirate was still trying to put out the fire, which it said had lightly injured a Jordanian citizen.
"The IRGC is sending a message that there is no safe harbor in this rapidly expanding conflict," said Helima Croft, analyst at RBC Capital.
"The fact this comes hours after the US strike on Kharg Island also signals that Tehran will not let Washington control the terms of escalation and impose dominance."
The International Energy Agency said earlier this week that the world was facing its biggest ever oil supply crisis due to the effective closing of the Strait of Hormuz, a channel along the Iranian coast, since the US and Israel began air strikes on Iran on February 28, with the UAE among producers forced to cut oil output.
Iran threatened more UAE ports yesterday, warning residents to leave areas near Jebel Ali port in Dubai and Khalifa port in Abu Dhabi as well as Fujairah, Iranian news agencies reported.
The UAE Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Iran's accusation that the attack on Kharg Island had come through the UAE.
The fire in Fujairah occurred after debris fell during the interception of a drone, the emirate's media office said.
Abu Dhabi state oil giant ADNOC, which operates in the emirate, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump urged other nations to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz yesterday, after Iran threatened escalation across the Middle East to retaliate for Washington’s bombing of its main Gulf island energy hub.
Tehran’s ability to stop shipping through the strait, a major channel for oil and gas shipping, could give it enormous leverage over the US and its allies.
“The Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we will help – A LOT!” Trump wrote in a social media post.
“The US will also co-ordinate with those Countries so that everything goes quickly, smoothly, and well.”
Since Israel and the United States began attacking Iran on February 28, the war has killed more than 2,000 people, mostly in Iran, and created the biggest-ever oil supply disruption, pushing up global prices.
At least 15 people were killed when an air strike hit a refrigerator and heater factory in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Saturday.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment. Some oil-loading operations have been suspended in the UAE’s Fujairah emirate, a global ship-refueling hub, industry and trade sources said yesterday. The emirate’s media office said a drone was intercepted, but civil defence forces as of late yesterday were still trying to put out a fire caused by falling debris.
An Iranian military spokesperson called on people in the UAE to evacuate ports, docks, and “American hideouts,” saying US forces had targeted Iranian islands from those areas.
Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi dismissed speculation from US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that Khamenei was wounded and likely disfigured. “There is no problem with the new supreme leader. He sent his message yesterday, and he will perform his duties,” Araqchi told MS Now.
Khamenei has not appeared in public, instead issuing a statement on Thursday read by a television presenter.
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