TEHRAN – The naval stand-off in the Gulf threatened to boil over yesterday following days of clashes and tit-for-tat accusations, as a cargo ship was hit off Qatar and Iran warned it could target US interests in the region. Qatar’s defence ministry said the freighter had been arriving in the country’s waters from Abu Dhabi and was hit by a drone northeast of the port of Mesaieed.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said a bulk carrier had reported being struck by an unknown projectile. “There was a small fire that has been extinguished, there are no casualties. There is no reported environmental impact,” it said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Iran’s Fars news agency reported that “the bulk carrier that was struck near the coast of Qatar was sailing under the US flag and belonged to the United States.” This came after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to target US interests in the Middle East if its tankers come under fire — as they had done on Friday when a US fighter jet fired on and disabled two Iran-flagged vessels in the Gulf of Oman to prevent them from continuing to Iranian ports.

“Any attack on Iranian tankers and commercial vessels will result in a heavy attack on one of the American centres in the region and enemy ships,” the IRGC said.
Iran’s neighbour Kuwait also reported an attempted attack.

“At dawn today, the armed forces detected a number of hostile drones in Kuwaiti airspace, which were dealt with in accordance with established procedures,” the military posted on social media.

Iran has choked off the Strait of Hormuz — a vital route out of the Gulf for oil, gas and fertiliser, seeking to wield economic leverage over the United States and its allies. The US Navy, meanwhile, is blockading and sometimes disabling or diverting ships heading to and from Iran’s ports.

– Nampa/AFP