UK maritime firm says it is aware of incident east of UAE's Khor Fakkan
British maritime security firm Ambrey said early on Tuesday it was aware of an incident 22 nautical miles east of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates, near the Strait of Hormuz, as Israel and Iran attack each other for a fifth straight day.
The strait lies between Oman and Iran and links the Gulf north of it with the Gulf of Oman to the south and the Arabian Sea beyond.
About a fifth of the world's total oil consumption passes through the strait. Between the start of 2022 and last month, roughly 17.8 million to 20.8 million barrels of crude, condensate and fuels flowed through the strait daily, according to data from Vortexa.
There was no immediate response to Reuters' request for comment from the Emirati foreign ministry or Khor Fakkan container terminal in the early hours of Tuesday.
Israel launched wide-scale strikes against Iran on Friday, saying it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders during the start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.
Iran, which has denied such intentions, has in the past threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz for traffic in retaliation to Western pressure. Experts have said that any closure of the strait could restrict trade and impact global oil prices. (Reporting by Yomna Ehab and Enas Alashray; Editing by Tom Hogue and Christopher Cushing)
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Middle East Eye
39 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel's war on Iran: Why the UK must stay out
For three decades, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been telling the world that Iran is on the cusp of joining the nuclear weapons club. He has obsessed about bombing it, engaging in a full-scale war, and bringing about regime change. In 2002, Netanyahu pressed the US and others to invade Iraq, on the falsehood that it had a nuclear weapons programme. He proclaimed how much safer the region would be in evidence to the US Congress. 'If you take out Saddam, Saddam's regime, I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region,' Netanyahu said. 'And I think that people sitting right next door in Iran, young people, and many others, will say the time of such regimes, of such despots is gone.' As ever, it is best to ignore Netanyahu's advice. The Anglo-US war on Iraq and its subsequent occupation ended Washington's period as the world's sole hyper-power. It paved the way for Iran to dominate not just Iraq, but Syria and Lebanon too. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters It allowed al-Qaeda to prosper and open a new murderous front in Iraq, and it saw the genesis of the Islamic State group, which took over much of Iraq and Syria for a period of time, and mounted deadly attacks across Europe and elsewhere. Fast forward to 2015, when Netanyahu was in Congress hammering former President Barack Obama's Iran nuclear deal, the one mechanism that could limit Iranian nuclear ambitions and put its facilities under detailed and intensive supervision and monitoring. He then persuaded President Donald Trump to rip up the deal in 2018. Had that deal been adhered to, war with Iran would not be happening today. It was not Iran that pulled out of the agreement, but the US. War of choice On Iraq, Netanyahu pressed the US to do the job while Israel watched. This time, he opted to make a pre-emptive strike not on Iran, but on any chance of a viable US-Iranian nuclear deal. By attacking Iran, he is trying to engineer the necessary conditions to suck in the US and its European allies. Netanyahu promotes the line that Iran is days away from a nuclear bomb, without providing precise evidence for this claim. What we do know is that the latest assessment by the US director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, this past March found that 'Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei has not authorised the nuclear weapons programme that he suspended in 2003'. There was time for diplomacy to resolve the issue. But already, the UK looks to be falling for this. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government wisely started by calling for de-escalation, but this line has faltered. Ministers are talking about backing Israel's right to self-defence, a complete inversion of the objective reality. Netanyahu has a coterie of useful idiots on both sides of the Atlantic willing to echo and amplify his every warlike utterance It was Israel that unilaterally launched major strikes on Iran, almost certainly a violation of international law and a crime of aggression. This was a war of choice, and the choice was Netanyahu's. The UK was not even given prior warning. Israel's attacks might have incapacitated Iran's nuclear and ballistic-missile programmes for a time, but more likely, this will drive Tehran to pursue both as a priority for its own preservation. Netanyahu has a coterie of useful idiots on both sides of the Atlantic willing to echo and amplify his every warlike utterance. Very few of them demonstrate any sophisticated understanding of the Middle East, let alone the countries targeted for bombing and invasion. In the UK, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is goading Starmer with the childish argument that his government is 'so weak they make Neville Chamberlain look positively robust'. Starmer has dispatched additional British military assets to the region and will not rule out a deployment in defence of Israel. Even by saying this, the UK government has lurched - without proper strategic assessment or parliamentary debate - closer towards a war that it should stay well clear of. Bulldozing red lines If British forces are deployed to defend Israel, they would be actively facilitating the attacks on Iran. This is how Tehran and others would see it. Britain would not only be complicit, but it would have zero influence on Israel's aggression against Iran, or whether it was in accordance with international law. Imagine, as Israel has done repeatedly in Gaza and Lebanon, that Israeli bombs took out civilian infrastructure, including power stations and waterworks. A complaint from Starmer or his foreign secretary, David Lammy, would not stop the next round of Israeli bombing. UK military assistance might start out with the intent of just knocking out Iranian drones and missiles. But it would not end there. Iran would not hesitate in responding, and it could include British targets as a result. If Britain dips its toes into the bloody waters, before long, it will be up to its neck. If British targets are hit and personnel killed, then British forces would soon be in active participation against Iranian targets as part of a war that Netanyahu orchestrated. The Iraq play book is back for Israel's attack on Iran. But it fools no one Read More » Above all, the UK should not be treating Israel in any way, shape or form as an ally. This Israeli government, as it prosecutes a war on Iran, is simultaneously carrying out a genocide in Gaza. It has bulldozed through every red line. It has systematically destroyed all of Gaza's healthcare system, forcibly displaced almost the entire population of two million people, and openly used starvation as a weapon of war. Its ministers have routinely and without consequence uttered chilling genocidal comments, calling for the annihilation and destruction of Gaza - a threat that is being played out every single day. One hopes that this is not a government with whom the UK shares interests or values. Starmer claims to support international law, but allies himself with a state that the International Court of Justice is investigating for genocide. Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He is, as so many leaders have found out over decades, a brazen liar and deeply untrustworthy. Staying out of this conflict would not be weakness, but a wise choice to avoid a reckless gamble on a war pursued by a leader desperate to save his own skin and political future. The UK should take the lead in returning to a rules-based international order where war is the last resort. It is not de-escalation that is required, but credible conflict resolution, secured with iron-clad diplomatic deals to end the Iran-Israel war and the genocide in Gaza. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Gulf Today
an hour ago
- Gulf Today
G7 urges Middle East de-escalation as Trump makes hasty summit exit
G7 leaders on Monday called for "de-escalation" in the Middle East starting with the Israel-Iran conflict, as US President Donald Trump hastily left the group's summit. Trump, who was making his return to the international diplomatic calendar, departed the gathering in the Canadian Rockies a day early as ally Israel pounded Iran. After a day of statements backing diplomacy, Trump ominously took to social media to sound a warning to people in the Iranian capital, whose population is nearly 10 million. "Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!" he wrote on his Truth Social platform. Having earlier hesitated at backing a joint statement on the crisis, Trump relented during a dinner at a forested lodge under the snow-capped mountains in Kananaskis. From left to right: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, US President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pose for a family photo during the Group of Seven (G7) Summit at the Kananaskis Country Golf Course in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada on Monday. AFP "We urge that the resolution of the Iranian crisis leads to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza," said the joint statement released by Canada. The statement said Israel "has a right to defend itself" and stressed "the importance of the protection of civilians," as the growing attacks kill civilians on both sides. The leaders of the club of industrial democracies -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- stated their conviction that Iran "can never have a nuclear weapon." Trump for weeks said he favored diplomacy, and his envoy Steve Witkoff met five times with Iranian envoys, but he quickly backed Israel's strikes and said Tehran's clerical state should have agreed to his terms. At a group photo with fellow G7 leaders before the dinner, Trump said: "I have to be back as soon as I can. I wish I could stay for tomorrow, but they understand, this is big stuff." Donald Trump waves to reporters after leaving the G7 Leaders' Summit. AFP French President Emmanuel Macron suggested the United States was ready to make a diplomatic overture. "There was an offer made for a meeting and an exchange," Macron told reporters. "If the United States can obtain a ceasefire, it is a very good thing," he added. Soon after his early exit, Trump rebuked his French counterpart, accusing Macron of mischaracterizing the reason for his departure. "Publicity seeking President Emmanuel Macron, of France, mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to D.C. to work on a 'cease fire' between Israel and Iran," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that. Whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong. Stay tuned!" Before his decision to leave early was announced, Trump had told reporters: "As soon as I leave here, we're going to be doing something." He has repeatedly declined to say if the United States would participate in Israeli military action, although he has said Washington was not involved in initial strikes and the White House said US forces remained in a defensive posture. Onus on Iran Trump earlier said Iran would be "foolish" not to agree to a negotiated settlement. "It's painful for both parties, but I'd say Iran is not winning this war, and they should talk, and they should talk immediately, before it's too late," Trump told reporters as he met Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The US president will miss a day of G7 meetings that was expected to include discussions with the leaders of Ukraine and Mexico. Donald Trump arrives for a family photo during the Group of Seven (G7) Summit. AFP Since Friday, Israel has struck major nuclear and military sites and killed leading commanders and nuclear scientists in Iran, which has responded with its own volley of drones and missiles on Israel. Macron voiced objections to what increasingly appeared to be Israel's goal -- toppling the clerical state that took power after the 1979 revolution toppled the pro-Western shah. "All who have thought that by bombing from the outside you can save a country in spite of itself have always been mistaken," he said. Iran, since Trump pulled out of an earlier nuclear deal in 2018, has ramped up uranium enrichment but not yet at levels to create an atomic bomb. Israel is widely known to have nuclear weapons but does not acknowledge them publicly. Tariff talks The summit comes after months of tumult on the global stage since Trump's return to the White House. Seeking to shatter a decades-old US-led global economic order, Trump has vowed sweeping tariffs on friends and foes alike although he has postponed implementation until July 9. But Trump voiced optimism about a resolution with Canada and signed documents with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to confirm an agreement with Britain. Trump has previously mocked host Canada, stating that the vast but less populated neighbor should become the 51st US state. But Trump has appeared to show more respect to Canada since Carney, a staid former central banker, took over from the more flamboyant Justin Trudeau in March. Trump had taken office seeking diplomacy both on Iran and Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022. He has since voiced frustration that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not accepted a US proposal for a ceasefire. Agence France-Presse
The National
2 hours ago
- The National
Sirens sound in Israel as Iranian missile barrage detected
Trump says Iran 'should have signed the deal I told them to sign' Fires detected in Gulf of Oman separating Iran from UAE Benjamin Netanyahu claims Iran attacks 'well co-ordinated' with US US sending more defensive assets to Middle East Footage shows blast shaking studio as presenter criticises Israel for attacks
