UAE says Iran attacked ADNOC vessel in Hormuz, urges waterway's reopening

The United Arab Emirates said ​on Saturday Iran had attacked an Abu Dhabi National Oil Company ‌vessel while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz a day earlier, the Emirati state news agency WAM reported.

ADNOC said no injuries were reported and that the situation was under ​control, according to WAM.

The UAE foreign ministry called on Tehran to halt ​what it described as unprovoked attacks, end hostilities and fully reopen ⁠the waterway.

There was no immediate comment from Iran.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have previously ​threatened action against vessels transiting the strait if they are linked to Tehran's adversaries ​or fail to comply with Iranian directives.

The attack was the third such incident involving ADNOC vessels in less than a week, and the UAE had also accused Iran of being behind ​the earlier incidents.

Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said Abu Dhabi ​would defend its sovereignty and interests after repeated attacks on ADNOC vessels.

"We will safeguard our ‌rights ⁠to freedom of navigation ... while continuing the path of dialogue and prioritising diplomatic options," Gargash said in a post on X.

Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said earlier it had received a report of a bulk carrier being struck ​by an unknown ​projectile in the ⁠strait on Friday. It was not immediately clear whether the incident involved the same ADNOC vessel.

About a fifth of the ​world's oil and liquefied natural gas passed through the narrow ​waterway between ⁠Oman and Iran before the conflict. Since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran broke out on February 28, shipping has been repeatedly disrupted, raising freight rates and creating security ⁠concerns.

ADNOC, Abu ​Dhabi's state oil company, is one of the ​world's largest energy producers and exports crude oil, natural gas and refined products worldwide.