The United Arab Emirates is blaming Iran for firing drones at two tankers operated by a state-owned oil company as they sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, saying Friday that the attacks were acts of piracy. The attacks caused no casualties but underlined the dangers faced by vessels seeking to move cargo through the critical waterway that leads from the Persian Gulf to the open oceans as Iran keeps a firm grip on the passage.
Here鈥檚 a look at the latest developments in the and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found .
2 oil tankers hit by drones as they transited Strait of Hormuz
Two tankers owned by Abu Dhabi鈥檚 state-owned oil and gas company ADNOC were attacked Thursday evening while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the company said. It added that the attack caused no injuries and that 鈥渢he situation has been brought under control.鈥�
The British military鈥檚 United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said two vessels were reported to have suffered minor damage when attacked by drones while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. It did not identify them as the ADNOC ships but it appeared to be the same incident.
The UAE’s Foreign Ministry blamed the attacks on Iran and said they were a 鈥渇lagrant violation鈥� of the United Nations’ principles of freedom of navigation.
鈥淭argeting commercial shipping and using the Strait of Hormuz as a tool of economic coercion or blackmail represents acts of piracy by Iran鈥檚 Revolutionary Guard Corps, and constitutes a direct threat to the stability of the region, its peoples, and global energy security,鈥� the Foreign Ministry said.
There was no immediate response from Iran.
Kushner will head to Middle East for talks on Gaza
President Donald Trump鈥檚 son-in-law and negotiator Jared Kushner will next week to try to advance plans for an end to the conflict in Gaza after by the Trump administration ran into .
An official with , the body Trump established to oversee the fragile ceasefire in the , said Kushner, board high representative Nickolay Mladenov, and executive board member and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would arrive in Israel on Sunday.
The group will then travel to Cairo, where meetings of set to assume control of Gaza under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal have been taking place for the past several months, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because planning for details of the trip has not yet been finalized,
The trip was reported earlier by Axios.
鈥� Matthew Lee in Washington
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