IRAN WAR: UAE reports drone, missile attack as Iran war ceasefire is challenged
· Toronto Sun
The shaky ceasefire in the Iran war was further strained on Friday as the United Arab Emirates responded to a missile and drone strike, hours after the U.S. said it thwarted attacks on three Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz and retaliated against Iranian military facilities.
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There were no immediate reports of damage in the UAE.
Iran and the U.S. are trading blows as their negotiators are seeking a deal to end the fighting, but so far they’ve avoided a return to all-out fighting. It’s not clear how close the two sides are to a deal on issues like Iran’s nuclear program, which the U.S. and Israel vowed to halt when they launched the war on Feb. 28, or the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway that Iran has all but closed in a bid to pressure the global economy.
On Thursday, Tehran said it was examining the latest U.S. proposals for ending the war delivered to it via Pakistan, which is serving as a mediator.
U.S. President Donald Trump played down the exchange of fire between Iran and the U.S. Navy on Thursday. In a phone call with a reporter for ABC, Trump called the retaliatory strikes against Iran “just a love tap.” He insisted the ceasefire is holding and a deal could come “any day,” but reiterated threats of bombing if Tehran does not accept a deal that allows for resumption of oil and natural gas shipments disrupted by the conflict.
Here’s the latest on the Iran war on Friday:
Iran denies Monday strike on oil terminal
Tehran had denied carrying out a strike on Monday on the major UAE oil terminal in Fujairah, but Iranian analysts have been allowed to appear on state media to suggest the Emiratis have been involved in recent attacks on Iran.
This week, Trump has fed hopes of a deal, saying an agreement could be near even as he again threatened to return to bombing if Tehran refused to back down.
But he doubled down on that stance after Thursday’s clash, posting on his Truth Social platform: “We’ll knock them out a lot harder, and a lot more violently, in the future, if they don’t get their Deal signed, FAST!”
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei had said Thursday that Tehran would communicate its position to mediator Pakistan “after finalizing its views.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif struck an optimistic tone prior to the exchanges of fire on Thursday, saying in televised remarks: “I firmly believe that this ceasefire will turn into a long-term ceasefire.”
Lebanon talks
Any agreement between Washington and Tehran could also help lower tensions in Lebanon, where a separate truce was under renewed strain after an Israeli strike on southern Beirut killed a Hezbollah commander on Wednesday.
A U.S. State Department official confirmed on Thursday that the new Israel-Lebanon talks would take place on May 14 and 15.
It will be the third meeting in recent months between the two countries, which have technically been at war for decades and have no diplomatic relations.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that a peace deal between the two sides was “eminently achievable”, insisting that Hezbollah was the sticking point, rather than any issue between the two governments.
Both Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have kept up their attacks despite the ceasefire.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the outbreak of the broader war.
Oil tanker reaches South Korea after passing blockade
An oil tanker that passed through the Strait of Hormuz arrived in South Korea on Friday, the first such vessel to reach the Asian nation by that route since Iran declared the critical waterway closed.
The arrival of the Malta-flagged Odessa, carrying one million barrels of crude oil, will likely ease Seoul’s concerns over energy security as the war in the Middle East drags on.
The hulking vessel was spotted at around 10:00 a.m. near a mooring facility off the coast of Seosan.
Its arrival is expected to help stabilize supply, securing crude equivalent to nearly half of South Korea’s daily oil consumption, industry sources said.
Its cargo will undergo refining before being supplied to the market as petroleum products, including gasoline and diesel, the sources said.
The Odessa passed through the Strait of Hormuz on April 17 during a brief reprieve in the blockade.
Iran creates agency to control passage at Hormuz
Earlier on Thursday, a shipping data company reported that Iran has created a government agency to vet and tax vessels seeking passage through the strait.
The Iranian effort to formalize control over the channel raised new concerns about international shipping, with hundreds of commercial vessels bottled up in the Persian Gulf and unable to reach the open sea. Still, hope that the two-month conflict could soon be over buoyed international markets.
The report by shipping data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence that Iran has established a new government agency to approve transit and collect tolls from shipping in the strait raised concerns over the freedom of navigation on which global trade depends.
The agency, called the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, is “positioning itself as the only valid authority to grant permission to ships transiting the strait,” Lloyd’s reported in an online briefing Thursday. Lloyd’s said the authority had emailed it an application form for ships seeking passage.
– With files from AFP and The Associated Press