Two oil tankers belonging to Saudi Arabia were damaged in sabotage attacks Sunday near the United Arab Emirates.
It’s not clear if the attacks were linked to the growing tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
The attacks coincided with the U.S. deploying an aircraft carrier, bombers, and an anti-missile battery to the Persian Gulf to deter violence from Iran against American troops stationed in the Middle East as the U.S. increases sanctions.
The Trump administration has stopped Iran’s biggest customers from buying its oil and said the U.S. would help Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates supply those countries with oil instead.
The two tankers sustained “significant damage,” Saudi energy minister Khalid al-Falih said, according to news reports. Falih said one of the tankers was on its way to pick up Saudi oil that would be brought to the U.S.
Though neither Saudi Arabia nor the United Arab Emirates said who they suspected was behind the attacks, both nations have a tumultuous relationship with Iran.
A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry called any suggestion that the country was behind the attacks a “conspiracy.”
There were no casualties or oil spilled in the attacks, Falih said.
