The United Arab Emirates reported an oil spill from a tanker off its coast on Friday, as numerous vessels in Gulf waters came under attack in the ongoing Iran war. The authorities "detected a tanker oil spill affecting Umm Al Quwain's beaches," the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment said in a statement, referring to an emirate north of Dubai. It said "teams immediately began containment, cordoning, clean-up and remediation... to limit environmental impacts", adding that the emirate's beaches had been closed.
Many residents in the country's north have reported unusual oil-like smells on social media in recent days, including in northern districts of Dubai. Frequent attacks on ships have been reported in recent weeks near the Strait of Hormuz, control of which remains at the heart of the war between Iran and the US. The maritime security agency UKMTO reported on 9 October that a vessel had been hit by a projectile off the UAE coast, causing a fire that was later brought under control.
According to maritime security company Vanguard, the vessel was the oil tanker GEM NO.2, sailing under the Panamanian flag. Roughly one-fifth of the world's oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February. Both Tehran and Washington have implemented blockades in the strait, while Iran has repeatedly targeted cargo vessels using the southern section of the waterway.
Earlier this week, Iran's IRGC said in a statement that it targets tankers trying to use what Tehran unilaterally designates as an unauthorised route through the strait's southern section, near the Omani coast. Tehran has no recognised authority under international maritime law to restrict or authorise passage through Hormuz, which is subject to the right of transit passage under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The UAE lies close to the Strait of Hormuz, just 40-50 nautical miles from the waterway's narrowest point.
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