A drone launched from Iran struck the UAE's oil port of Fujairah on Monday, igniting a large fire and injuring three Indian nationals, local officials said. The attack came the same day the UAE defense ministry said it had intercepted three Iranian missiles, with a fourth falling into the sea.
The UAE called the strikes a "dangerous escalation." Iranian state television quoted an unnamed military official saying Iran had "no plans to target the UAE," and Iran's government called the UAE's account "entirely false." Iran's military separately claimed it fired warning shots at a U.S. warship in the strait. Washington denied that an Iranian missile had hit a U.S. vessel.
President Donald Trump later said the U.S. had "shot down" seven Iranian fast boats in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran denied that as well.
The UAE's foreign ministry also reported that a tanker affiliated with Adnoc, the country's state-owned oil company, was hit in the Strait of Hormuz. South Korea reported an explosion on one of its ships anchored off the UAE coast. In Oman, two people were injured when a residential building in Bukha, along the Hormuz coastline, was struck.
Fujairah sits on the UAE's east coast, beyond the strait. A pipeline from Abu Dhabi's oilfields runs to the port, allowing limited crude exports to reach global markets despite the waterway being effectively closed since February, when the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran and Tehran responded by blocking the strait. An April ceasefire had paused Iranian drone and missile strikes on Gulf states, but few ships have transited the strait since then.
Brent crude passed $115 a barrel shortly after news of the Fujairah strike broke, up more than 5% on the day. Wall Street fell sharply, with the Dow dropping roughly 500 points as oil prices surged and uncertainty about the conflict deepened, according to the Associated Press.
Qatar condemned the tanker attack and called for the strait's "unconditional reopening." An estimated 20,000 seafarers on 2,000 ships have been stranded since the conflict began in February. Trump said Sunday the U.S. would begin helping vessels exit the blocked waterway.
