On Sunday, 12th of May 2019, the UAE Foreign Ministry said four commercial ships (two Saudi oil tankers, one Emiriti oil tanker and one Norwegian oil tanker) were subject to “sabotage operations” near the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman, East of Fujairah, without causing casualties. Earlier the government of Fujairah denied media reports about blasts inside the port and said “the facility was operating normally”. This was a respond to some Iranian affiliated news agencies which announced earlier on the same day that explosions were monitored near Fujairah seaport.
I think that there are three possible estimations:
First: The sabotage operations were carried out by elements of Iranian special forces, any of its proxy forces or by crews of ships engaged in piracy and smuggling, which used to communicate with Iranians did this sabotage operation, in order to show that the security of Gulf states is fragile.
Second: By armed groups (terrorists) funded by one of the parties that seek to carry out a strong military strike against Iran, such as Israel, for example.
Third: By terrorist groups aiming the outbreak of a major war in the region to prepare the conditions for the resumption of its activities.
All of the three stemations are preliminary and according to the information available by news agencies and official sources.
Sayed Ghoneim, Major General (retired)
Fellow, Nasser Higher Military Academy
Chairman, IGSDA
www.igsda.org
