Move FM Global News

MOSCOW, Russia – The United Arab Emirates says that circumstantial and compelling evidence is needed to apportion blame for last month’s attacks on four oil tankers off the UAE coast of Fujairah.

“The UAE is not pointing fingers of accusation at any state for the recent attacks on four oil tankers in the country’s territorial waters since clear, scientific and convincing evidence is required to do that. Should any other country have clearer evidence, the international community would certainly take it into consideration,” Foreign Affairs Minister for the UAE Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, during his current official visit to Russia.

“We are living in a turbulent region. A region that is crucial to the world and we don’t desire more volatilities and tensions, as we rather are seeking more stability and development,” he added.

“We will continue our commitment to professionalism on this issue. We have already presented the findings of our first probe to the Security Council. The three states concerned with the issue, namely UAE, Norway and Saudi Arabia, issued their statement which has also been sent to the International Maritime Organisation. We defined the attacks as aggressions that were most probably carried out by actors with a considerable amount of intelligence and technical expertise,” said the UAE foreign minister.

The diplomat added that the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in the UAE a few days ago and “we discussed during his visit a number of issues, including the situation with Iran.”