The United Arab Emirates issued a missile threat warning on Monday after detecting four projectiles from Iran, a major escalation that threatens a month-old ceasefire and raises the risk of a broader conflict in the world’s most important oil-producing region.
The alert came just hours after the UAE’s Foreign Ministry said an oil tanker owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) was struck by two Iranian drones while transiting outside the Strait of Hormuz. “Using the Strait of Hormuz as a tool of pressure or economic blackmail constitutes acts of piracy by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and poses a direct threat to the stability of the region,” the ministry said in a statement.
The twin incidents sent a jolt through energy markets, with Brent crude futures jumping 2.5% to trade at just under $111 a barrel. The Strait of Hormuz handled about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas transit before the war that began in late February, and the renewed violence puts the fragile diplomatic process to end the war in jeopardy. The last time tensions flared this high, after Iran seized a container ship in April, oil prices saw a similar spike.
The escalation comes as the U.S. military begins “Project Freedom,” an operation announced by President Donald Trump to restore freedom of navigation for commercial shipping through the waterway. U.S. Central Command confirmed that two U.S.-flagged merchant ships have already transited the strait under the new defensive umbrella, which includes guided-missile destroyers and over 100 aircraft. Iran’s leadership has called the operation a “violation of the ceasefire,” with Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi, a top commander, stating any U.S. forces entering the strait “will be subjected to attack.” Iranian state media also claimed to have hit a U.S. warship, a report that U.S. Central Command immediately denied as false.
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