UAE accuses Iran of renewed drone and missile attacks

UAE accuses Iran of renewed drone and missile attacks7 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleGeorge WrightEPAFujairah is the UAE's biggest port and oil storage facilityA large fire has broken out at the key oil port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after it was hit by a drone attack from Iran, local officials say. Three Indian nationals were injured in the strike, officials said.It came after the UAE defence ministry said it had intercepted three missiles launched from Iran, with a fourth falling into the sea. Its foreign ministry earlier reported a tanker affiliated with Adnoc, its state-owned oil company, was hit in the Strait of Hormuz.The UAE called the attacks a "dangerous escalation". Iranian state TV has quoted an unnamed military official as saying that Iran had "no plans to target the UAE". The rising tensions come as the US said navy destroyers and US-flagged merchant ships sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.Iran called the claims "entirely false" and its military said it fired warning shots at a US warship. Washington earlier denied a claim in Iranian state media that Iranian missiles had hit a US ship. Later on Monday Donald Trump said the US had "shot down" seven Iranian fast boats in the strait. Iran denied that this had happened.The Strait of Hormuz has remained largely blocked since the US and Israel launched air strikes on Iran in February and Tehran responded by blocking the crucial waterway through which 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas is meant to pass freely. In early April the US and Iran announced a ceasefire under which Iran ended its drone and missile strikes on Gulf countries including the UAE, but few vessels have been able to transit the strait since then and the US imposed its own blockade on Iranian ports.The benchmark Brent crude oil price passed $115 a barrel shortly after the reports that Fujairah had come under attack, up more than 5% o...