Two Saudi oil tankers and two other vessels were targeted earlier this month near Fujairah, one of the seven Arab emirates, in what the UAE’s Foreign Ministry has described as “acts of sabotage”.
During a meeting of foreign ministers for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf called on Muslim nations to “confront” vessel attacks off the UAE coast that the United States has blamed on Iran with “all means of force and firmness”.
The minister said the alleged sabotage of ships and a recent drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline require “more efforts to counter the terrorist acts of extremist and terrorist groups”.
Saudi Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz has claimed in a tweet that the drone strike was “ordered by the regime in Tehran, and carried out by the Houthis”, but Iran has denied its involvement.