A Kuwaiti tanker fully loaded with two million barrels of oil was set on fire while docked in Dubai after an Iranian drone strike, local authorities said, after President Donald Trump threatened to obliterate Iran’s energy sources.
The Dubai Media Office said that the Al Salmi tanker was struck by a drone and caught fire, raising fears of an oil spill in the Gulf port.
Officials said all 24 crew members were safe and that no oil had leaked from the vessel.
The attack caused oil prices to briefly spike, but they later regressed following reports that Trump was considering whether to end the war without opening the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway through which around a fifth of the world’s oil passes.
Washington has been drawing up plans to open the Strait, which was closed by Tehran last month when the war began. On Monday, the White House warned the US has capabilities beyond Iran’s “wildest imagination” if peace talks fail.
Trump threatened to “conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran” by “obliterating” Kharg Island and other energy facilities if a deal to end the war is not reached.
