UAE Says Iran Missile Struck Tanker in Strait of Hormuz as Oman Talks Drag On

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates —

A tanker belonging to the United Arab Emirates' state oil company was hit by a missile early Saturday while passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE said, the latest attack in a waterway that has become the center of the standoff between the United States and Iran.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, known as ADNOC, said the vessel took no casualties and that "the situation has been brought under control," according to a company statement. The UAE's foreign ministry went further, calling the strike a "hostile Iranian attack" and accusing Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps of piracy, Al Jazeera reported. Abu Dhabi demanded Iran stop the attacks and reopen the strait "fully and unconditionally."

Gulf States Condemn the Strike

ADNOC said Friday, a day before the latest incident, that 15 of its ships had been attacked with missiles and drones since the war with Iran began, including three in the past week alone, according to Al Jazeera and the South China Morning Post. Those attacks have killed one crew member and wounded 20 others, the company said. ADNOC has not said who carried out the attacks.

The Gulf Cooperation Council's secretary-general, Jassim Mohammed al-Budaiwi, called the latest strike a "dangerous and unacceptable escalation," Al Jazeera reported. Qatar and Jordan also condemned it, and Saudi Arabia said it violated international law and a United Nations resolution, holding Iran responsible for the consequences.

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard spokesman, identified by Channel NewsAsia as Hossein Mohebbi, said reopening the strait has nothing to do with Iran's separate negotiations with Oman and instead depends on Washington accepting Iran's conditions, which he did not specify. "Whenever the United States accepts Iran's conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will certainly be reopened," he said, according to Iran's Tasnim news agency.

Oman Talks Still Unfinished

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said talks with Oman over a new shipping arrangement were "approaching the final stages," but cautioned that a deal would not mean the strait reopens, according to the South China Morning Post. He said Iran still wants compensation from the United States. A senior Iranian source and two regional officials told Reuters this week that the proposed arrangement would give Iran control over inbound ship traffic, one of the largest concessions on the table so far, Channel NewsAsia reported.

A U.S. official told Reuters on Friday that Washington expects a deal soon and would lift its blockade of Iranian ports once shipping resumes without restrictions, adding that any American response would depend on Iran following through. Vice President JD Vance said on Fox News that the plan under discussion includes a traffic scheme, clearing mines from the waterway and a pledge from Iran not to fire on commercial ships. He said the administration does not trust Iran's assurances and intends to verify compliance instead, according to CNBC.

Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, accused President Trump of "theater diplomacy" this week, mocking what he called a pattern of threatened strikes followed by talk of negotiations, CNBC reported.

Ship traffic through Hormuz fell 33 percent Friday compared with the day before, with most vessels detouring through Iranian waters, according to the trade tracking firm Kpler, CNBC reported. Brent crude closed at $83.55 a barrel Friday and U.S. crude at $78.18, both up about 1 percent on the day but down more than 7 percent for the week.