Iran warns of ‘conspiracy’ over sabotaged vessels near Fujairah port

Iran’s Foreign Ministry is warning against “conspiracy orchestrated by ill-wishers” and “adventurism by foreigners” over the acts of sabotage against four vessels off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Monday expressed concerns over the incident and said there should be more information about what exactly happened.

Iran, which is embroiled in an escalating war of words with the United States over sanctions and the US military’s presence in the region, moved to distance itself on Monday.

Several Iranian journalists at news agencies and daily newspapers affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, like Tasnim, Fars, and Khorasan, said that the “sons of the resistance” were behind the targeting of the four commercial vessels.

The term “sons of the resistance” is often used by Iranian regime officials to describe politicians and military men. The Iranian media also uses it to refer to wings and militias affiliated with Iran in the region.

In another tweet, the head of the Tasnim news agency in the North Khorasan Province, Amin Arabshahi, said: “The Fujairah Port which is the only vein for the UAE and Saudi Arabia to export oil has been burned. Few steps away from the Strait of Hormuz, the fire was set ablaze by the sons of the resistance. Let the merchants of fear know that the war began years ago and it’s now in its final minutes.”

Hossein Dalirian, a freelance journalist and former defense news expert at Tasnim, tweeted: “If the coffee shop closes, it will be closed for everyone… I do not know if you’ve heard of this proverb or not but it echoes true for the situation of some these days.” He included the hashtag #Fujairah in his tweet.

Hamed Rahimpour, the editor-in-chief of the Khorasan newspaper, also reacted by saying “all options are on the table.”

“Targeting Yanbu and Fujairah, which are the two ports that are supposed to be the alternatives to Iranian oil, were dealt a blow of which they do not know its origin,” Rahimpour tweeted.

Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, said that “explosions near Fujairah port showed that the security of Gulf states is fragile.”
Source: Al Arabiya