For the past eight to ten hours, NUMEROUS reports have been coming in of several oil tanker explosions in the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Local government DENIES any incident at all, while other sources say several tankers exploded and burned; and that IRAN is suspected in the incident.
The reports began coming in around 5:00 AM eastern US time and were quickly DENIED by the government of Fujairah. HOWEVER, the International Airport at Fujairah seems to have been suddenly closed and no air traffic is being permitted over the port.
Seven to ten oil tankers in the port have caught fire and are completely burnt, the Lebanon-based Al Mayadeennews channel quoted sources as saying.
A super tanker (9165762), the tanker Al-Maarij (9394741), another tanked named AMI JAL (91477674), and the Khamsa 10 tanker (94320704) are among the tankers damaged in the explosions, the TV channel reported.
The PHOTO Image above is even disputed, with no one in any official capacity willing to confirm it is an image of a burning tanker in the UAE from today! It's as though some type of lid has been slammed shut on this . . . someone apparently does NOT want this info to get out.
Initially, the Russia news service Sputnik reported the incident, but hastily DELETED the report from their web site.
It's this simple: The United Arab Emirates is a U.S. ally. If Iran or its proxies bombed seven to ten tankers in a UAE port, then war with Iran is upon us.
The UAE, however, does significant amounts of trade with Iran - the bulk of which is FOOD. It may be that the UAE wants to hush this up because they don't want to be the reason for the US to go to war with Iran.
Lots of geopolitics in-play right now.
As more info becomes available, this story will be updated.
UPDATE 4:06 PM EDT --
UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "Four merchant ships were subject to 'sabotage operations' within Emirati territorial waters. No casualties have been reported."