DUBAI: A top UAE official denounced Iran’s claim of control over Emirati waters in the blockaded Strait of Hormuz as a “pipe dream” Thursday, following an announcement by an Iranian body overseeing the strait.
“The regime is trying to establish a new reality born from a clear military defeat, but attempts to control the Strait of Hormuz or infringe on the UAE’s maritime sovereignty are nothing but pipe dreams,” said the United Arab Emirates’ presidential adviser Anwar Gargash in a post on X.
Iran’s new body overseeing the Strait of Hormuz said its claimed area of control extends to Emirati waters, drawing a sharp rebuke from the Gulf neighbor.
Traffic through Hormuz, a vital global shipping conduit, has come under Iranian control since the outbreak of war with Israel and the US on February 28.
In a post on X on Wednesday accompanied by a map, the newly-established Arabian Gulf Strait Authority said it had outlined “the regulatory jurisdiction for the management” of the strait.
It said this covered the area between the line extending from “Kuh-e Mubarak in Iran to the south of Fujairah in the UAE... to the line connecting the tip of Qeshm island in Iran to Umm Al-Quwain in the UAE.”
It added that “transit through this area for the purpose of passing through the Hormuz Strait requires coordination with, and authorization from, the Arabian Gulf Strait Authority.”
The UAE’s Fujairah port hosts oil infrastructure designed to bypass the strategic waterway.
