Drone Attack from Iran Sparks Large Fire at UAE's Fujairah Oil Port

A large fire broke out at the key oil port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates after a drone attack from Iran, local officials said.

The incident followed a statement from the UAE defense ministry that it intercepted three missiles launched from Iran, with a fourth falling into the sea. The UAE foreign ministry had earlier reported that 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 quoted an unnamed military official as saying Iran had "no plans to target the UAE."

Tensions rose 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 said its military fired warning shots at a US warship. Washington denied an Iranian state media claim that Iranian missiles hit a US ship. Later Monday, President Donald Trump said the US had "shot down" seven Iranian fast boats in the strait. Iran denied that event.

The Strait of Hormuz has remained largely blocked since the US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran in February. Tehran responded by blocking the waterway, through which 20 percent of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas is meant to pass.

In early April, the US and Iran announced a ceasefire under which Iran ended drone and missile strikes on Gulf countries including the UAE. Few vessels have transited 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 reports of the Fujairah attack, up more than 5 percent on the day.

Fujairah lies on the UAE's east coast, beyond the Strait of Hormuz. A pipeline from Abu Dhabi's oilfields runs to Fujairah, allowing limited crude loading onto tankers for shipment to world markets despite the blockade.

Earlier Monday, South Korea reported an explosion on one of its ships anchored off the UAE. In Oman, two people were injured when a residential building in Bukha, along the Strait of Hormuz coastline, was targeted, state media reported.

On Sunday, Trump said the US would start helping stranded vessels out of the shipping lane. An estimated 20,000 seafarers on 2,000 ships have been stuck since the US-Iran war began in February.

The president said the US had been asked by countries "from all over the World" to help free their ships, which were "locked up in the Strait of Hormuz" and were "merely neutral and innocent bystanders."