UAE Oil Hub Fire, US Embassy Hit as Iran Tensions Spike in West Asia

A fire broke out at the Fujairah Port earlier after debris from an intercepted drone fell on the facility, the Fujairah Media Office said, as reported by CNN.

The incident came after Iran's military warned it could target ports and docks in the UAE in retaliation to a US strike on the critical Iranian oil export hub of Kharg Island.

Meanwhile, two drones hit the United States Embassy in Baghdad, a security official told CNN. The extent of the damage is not yet known. Footage showed smoke and flames rising from a building within the vicinity of the embassy compound.

The escalation has also impacted fuel prices. US gasoline prices rose to an average of USD 3.68 a gallon, a 23 per cent increase since the war in Iran began, reflecting soaring oil prices. Diesel prices averaged USD 4.85 a gallon this week, about a dollar higher than before the conflict, according to CNN.

Elsewhere, Israeli strikes and evacuation orders have disrupted Muslim families observing the holy month of Ramazan in Lebanon, an aid worker told CNN. "We are fasting during Ramadan while struggling to meet our basic needs," a Palestinian mother added in testimony shared with CNN by an aid organisation.

In southern Israel, two people, including a 12-year-old boy, were injured in Eilat after a series of Iranian missile launches.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump said five US tanker planes were hit at an airport in Saudi Arabia "a few days ago" but sustained minimal damage, claiming that four have already returned to service, and the fifth is expected to resume operations soon. (ANI)

Earlier, Iran's military launched a fresh wave of missiles as part of ongoing strikes against regional adversaries amid the West Asia conflict, Iranian state media Press TV reported.

The incident came moments after a spokesperson from Iran's military warned that Tehran could target ports and docks in the United Arab Emirates after recent US strikes on Kharg Island, a key hub for Iran's oil exports.

The warning came as tensions escalated in the Gulf following US missile strikes on military facilities on Kharg Island on Friday. Saturday's warning specifically addressed the UAE, urging civilians to avoid ports and docks.

"We warn the UAE leadership that the Islamic Republic of Iran views it as its legitimate right to strike the origins of American missile launches--those concealed in ports, docks, and shelters used by US forces under the cover of Emirati cities--in defence of its national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, said, as quoted by CNN.

- ANI