Iraq condemns sabotage of four ships near UAE territorial waters
Among those reportedly affected by the sabotage attack was an oil tanker, Amjad (pictured above)
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Iraq has strongly condemned sabotage of four commercial ships near the UAE territorial waters last Sunday, expressing its solidarity with the Gulf country in face of various “challenges”.
The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement, warned that the sabotage attack “endangers security of the Gulf region”, urging firm action to establish stability and security in the area.
It also affirmed Iraq’s solidarity with the UAE in facing all challenges and standing against all attempts to destabilize the Gulf country.
The ministry called on the international community and other regional countries to adopt the de-escalation policy and promote mutual cooperation to secure oil tankers crossing the waterway and maintain maritime traffic in the Gulf.
Four commercial ships were targets of a sabotage attack near Fujairah port, just outside the Strait of Hormuz, on Sunday.
The UAE gave no further details about the ships’ nationalities but Saudi Arabia confirmed that it owned two of them, while a Norwegian company said it had another. The fourth ship was reportedly UAE-flagged.
Iran had called for full investigation into the incident. In February, Iran threatened to “close” the strait in case it was prevented from using the waterway.
The US has deployed warships to the region in recent days to counter what it called “clear indications” of threats from Iran to its forces and maritime traffic. Iran dismissed that allegation as nonsense.