Iran attacks on UAE seen as warning over oil routes, Israel ties
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Riyadh, May 5 (Saudi Arabia Breaking News) – Iran struck the United Arab Emirates on Monday, nearly a month after a ceasefire between Iran and the United States, in an attack that targeted the Fujairah pipeline – the UAE’s primary crude export route bypassing the blocked Strait of Hormuz – and a UAE-linked tanker near the strait. No other state was targeted. The Iran – U.S. truce is largely holding.
ENERGY DIMENSION
Unlike neighbors dependent on the now – shut Strait of Hormuz, the UAE has continued to move crude to global markets through its Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, which terminates at Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman and was built specifically to bypass Hormuz. Shortly before Monday’s attacks, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy published a map designed a “new control area of the Strait of Hormuz”, that included Fujairah – which lies outside the waterway itself.
The strikes coincided with the launch of the U.S. “Project Freedom” initiative to restore navigation through the strait, suggesting Iran was signaling both the will and capability to disrupt energy flows across the wider region.
ISRAEL – UAE DIMENSION
The was has drawn Israel and the UAE closer together. Officials expect ties to deepen further. Sources say Israel took the unprecedented step of supplying the UAE with its missile defence systems and deploying troops on the ground in an Arab country for the first time. The UAE has signaled a broader strategic realignment, distancing itself from traditional Arab and Muslim allies over what it has described as their insufficient response to Iranian attacks.
Shortly after the strikes, an Iranian military source cited by Tasnim agency issued a direct warning to Abu Dhabi.
“Abu Dhabi will learn a lesson they will never forget if it becomes a pawn for Israel. If it wants to repeat mistake of the 40-gay war, we will completely abandon restraint and will treat this Zionist nest as part of the Zionist regime”. – Iranian Military source, cited by Tasmin News Agency.
