The United Arab Emirates has closed beaches in Umm Al Quwain after detecting an oil spill from a tanker, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment said. Containment, cordoning, clean-up and remediation teams moved in to limit the environmental damage, the ministry said in a statement.
No date was given for when the spill itself occurred. The ministry’s report came on a Friday, against a backdrop of repeated attacks on vessels in Gulf waters tied to the war between Iran and the United States.
Unusual smells reported
In recent days, residents across the UAE’s north have posted about unusual oil-like odours on social media, including in parts of northern Dubai. The UAE lies some 40-50 nautical miles from the narrowest point of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which, before the war, a fifth of the world’s oil moved.
Attacks on shipping near the strait have grown more frequent in recent weeks. On 9 October, UKMTO reported that a vessel off the UAE coast was struck by a projectile and caught fire, which was later brought under control. The security firm Vanguard identified the vessel as the GEM NO.2, a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker.
Blockades and disputed routes
The war began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February. Since then both Tehran and Washington have imposed blockades in the strait, and Iran has repeatedly targeted cargo vessels passing through its southern section.
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Earlier in the week, the IRGC said it targets tankers travelling a route near the Omani coast that Tehran has unilaterally declared unauthorised. Iran holds no recognised authority under international maritime law to restrict that passage, which falls under transit passage rules set out in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Source: Ministry of Climate Change and Environment
