Gulf Arab nations came under renewed missile and drone fire Tuesday from Iran, which has been targeting regional oil infrastructure and has vowed not to relinquish its stranglehold on the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Dubai, a major transit hub for international travel, briefly shut its airspace as the United Arab Emirates military said it was "responding to incoming missile and drone threats" around the city, and a man was killed by the debris of a missile intercepted over Abu Dhabi.
Iran kept up the pressure on the energy infrastructure of its Gulf Arab neighbors, hitting an oil facility in Fujairah, a UAE emirate on the country’s east coast with the Gulf of Oman that has been repeatedly targeted. State-run WAM news reported that no one had been injured in the blast from the dronezap.
The man killed by falling debris from an intercepted missile was the eighth person to die in the UAE since the start of the war, authorities said.
Iran’s attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported, has given rise to increasing concerns of a global energy crisis. Early Tuesday, it hit a tanker anchored off the coast of Fujairah, one of about 20 vessels hit since Israel and the United States launched their offensive on Iran on February 28.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said his country had been given no choice but to keep up its pressure on shipping traffic in the strait.
"They are flying, launching missiles, should we just sit back and do nothing in response?" he said in an interview on state television
US President Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
said he had demanded that roughly a half-dozen countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. But his appeals brought no immediate commitments, with many saying they are hesitant to get involved in a war with no defined exit plan and skeptical that they could do more than the US Navy.
UAE BRIEFLY SHUTS DOWN AIRSPACE
The UAE shut down its airspace early Tuesday as its military reported it was "responding to missile and drone threats from Iran." The closure was soon lifted, and not long after, the sounds of explosions could be heard as the military worked to intercept incoming fire.
The snap announcement on UAE airspace showed the balancing act Emirati authorities face in trying to keep their long-haul carriers, Emirates and Etihad, flying as Iranian attacks continue to target the country.
In Dubai, an AFP journalist heard three explosions after a cellphone alert warned residents of the UAE’s most populous city to "immediately seek a safe place" over "potential missile threats."
Meanwhile,
...back at the wine tasting, Vince was about to start on his third quart...
Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...’s Defense Ministry reported intercepting a dozen drones Tuesday morning over the country’s vast Eastern Province, home to oil infrastructure.
In Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
, the sounds of explosions boomed over the capital early in the day as defenses worked to intercept incoming fire. Qatar’s Defense Ministry said later that it had successfully thwarted a missile attack on the city, though a fire broke out in an industrial area from a downed projectile.
To the east, an "unknown projectile" struck a tanker off the coast of Oman, a UK maritime agency said, noting there were no reported injuries and only "minor structural damage."
In Kuwait, security forces were reported to have arrested 16 people suspected to have links to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group in Leb
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
The interior ministry said in a statement late Monday that the 14 Kuwaiti and two Lebanese suspects sought to "create chaos, and disrupt public order" during the war, the state-run Kuwait News Agency reported.
It said authorities found firearms, ammunition, weapons for training and liquidations and encrypted communication devices and drones.
The ministry said the suspects aimed to recruit others to join Hezbollah.