Tehran attacked and set ablaze a fully loaded crude oil tanker off Dubai on Tuesday, despite a threat by Donald Trump that the U.S. will obliterate Iran’s energy plants if it does not agree to a peace deal and open the Strait of Hormuz.
Authorities in Dubai said the fire on the Kuwait-flagged Al-Salmi had been brought under control following a drone attack, with no oil leak and no injuries to the crew. Kuwait Petroleum Corp, the ship’s owner, said the vessel’s hull was damaged.
The attack was the latest on merchant vessels in the strait, a vital waterway, since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
This was a warning shot. It’s a promise that if the US escalates the war, Iran will fuck up their gulf allies and impact the supply of fuel permanently. Their strategy of making the US’s war of aggression everyone else’s problem really is the best strategy they could’ve used without a nuclear deterrent. It won’t win them many allies, but it won’t win the US any either.