UAE blames Iran for drone strikes on ADNOC tankers in Strait of Hormuz

Dubai,UPDATED: Aug 14, 2026 20:12 IST

The United Arab Emirates on Friday accused Iran of attacking two ADNOC-operated oil tankers with drones as they passed through the Strait of Hormuz, calling the strikes acts of piracy. The attacks caused minor damage and no casualties, but highlighted the risks to commercial shipping in the strategic waterway linking the Persian Gulf to open seas.

The developments came amid wider tensions across the Middle East, with activists taking food and water to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Yemen saying it disrupted a Houthi attack, a drone being intercepted over Iraq's northern city of Irbil, and US negotiator Jared Kushner set to travel to the region for talks on Gaza.

ADNOC said the two tankers were attacked on Thursday evening while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. It said no one was injured and that "the situation has been brought under control." The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said two vessels suffered minor damage in drone attacks while moving through the strait. It did not identify the vessels, but the incident appeared to be the same one involving the ADNOC ships.

The UAE Foreign Ministry blamed Iran for the attacks and said they were a "flagrant violation" of the United Nations' principles of freedom of navigation. "Targeting commercial shipping and using the Strait of Hormuz as a tool of economic coercion or blackmail represents acts of piracy by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps," the ministry said. There was no immediate response from Iran.

In the occupied West Bank, activists marched to bring food and water to Palestinians in Qusra, where three families have been unable to leave their homes for nearly a week after settlers surrounded the area. Israeli troops intervened several times, but the settlers kept returning. The standoff in the northern West Bank town is the latest in a wave of settler violence in the territory seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and seen as part of a future Palestinian state. Defence Minister Israel Katz instructed the army to prepare a plan to transfer power to the police to enforce civilian-related matters, the Defence Ministry said.

In Yemen, the military said its forces foiled Houthi attacks early on Friday in the southwest of the country. Forces linked to Yemen's internationally recognised government said dozens of Houthis were killed and injured in fighting that disrupted plans to attack military reinforcements in Taiz province with drones, explosives and artillery. The Associated Press said it could not independently verify that toll. Recent Houthi attacks on government-held areas across Yemen have raised fears that the civil war could reignite and open another front in the Middle East.

In Iraq, a drone was intercepted over Irbil in an area with several hotels and consulates, the regional counterterrorism service said, adding that there were no casualties. It was not immediately clear who launched the drone. Separately, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and negotiator Jared Kushner is due to travel to the Middle East next week to try to advance plans to end the conflict in Gaza after a deal announced by the Trump administration faced Israeli opposition. An official with the Board of Peace said Kushner, board high representative Nickolay Mladenov and executive board member and former British prime minister Tony Blair would arrive in Israel on Sunday before travelling to Cairo, where meetings of a Palestinian technocratic group set to assume control of Gaza under a US-brokered ceasefire deal have been taking place for the past several months.

Overall, the latest developments reflected continuing instability across the region, from the drone strike on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz to unrest in the West Bank, fighting in Yemen, a drone interception in Irbil and fresh diplomatic efforts linked to Gaza.

With PTI Inputs

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