The fragile ceasefire in the war in Iran was put to the test again this Sunday (10), when a drone caused a small fire on a ship off the coast of Qatar. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have also reported drones entering their airspace.
The United Arab Emirates has blamed the attack on Iran, although no group has claimed responsibility for the offensive so far. There were no reports of casualties.
Iran and its allied armed groups have a large fleet of drones and have used them to carry out hundreds of attacks since the start of the war. The episodes marked the latest threats to the month-old ceasefire, which the US government of Donald Trump says remains in force.
The pause in fighting has faced difficulties, with Iran restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway essential to the global flow of oil, and the United States imposing a blockade on Iranian ports.
Iran has blocked much of the strait since the February 28 joint attacks carried out by the US and Israel, which started the war and caused a global spike in fuel prices, in addition to shaking world markets.
One of the main points of impasse in the negotiations is the fate of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The UN nuclear agency says Iran has more than 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity – a short distance from the levels needed for nuclear weapons.
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In an interview with Iranian state media, a spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces said troops were in “full readiness” to protect sites where uranium is stored.
“We consider it possible that they intended to steal it through infiltration operations or helicopter operations,” Brigadier General Akrami Nia told the IRNA news agency late on Saturday, 9. He did not provide further details.
Most of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is probably still at the Isfahan nuclear complex, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi told The Associated Press last month.
The Isfahan facility was bombed by US and Israeli airstrikes during last year’s 12-day war, but has faced less intense attacks this year.
Drone attacks target Gulf Arab countries
The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that it had shot down two drones, blaming the attack on Iran.
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In Kuwait, Defense Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saud Abdulaziz Al Otaibi said hostile drones entered Kuwaiti airspace on Sunday morning and that forces responded “in accordance with established procedures”. The ministry did not say where the drones came from.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s Ministry of Defense reported that a drone hit a commercial ship heading from Abu Dhabi to a port in the south of the country, causing a small fire that was brought under control. The UK’s Maritime Trade Operations Center said the attack occurred 23 nautical miles (43 kilometers) northeast of the Qatari capital, Doha. The agency did not provide details about the owner or origin of the ship, and there was no claim of authorship.
There have been several attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf over the past week. On Friday, the 8th, the US attacked two Iranian oil tankers after claiming that the vessels were trying to break the blockade on Iranian ports.
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy reiterated its warning on Sunday that any attack on Iranian oil tankers or commercial vessels will be met with a “heavy attack” on one of the American bases in the region and on enemy ships.
Pakistan continues to mediate during the ceasefire. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday that he received a call from his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. The two leaders discussed the evolving regional situation and reviewed ongoing peace efforts.
Sharif wrote in X that the countries share “fraternal ties” and said he hoped for a future visit by the Qatari leader to Pakistan.
