May 2019 Gulf of Oman incident
On 12 May 2019, four commercial ships were damaged off Fujairah's coast in the Gulf of Oman. The ships included two Saudi Arabian registered oil tankers, a Norwegian registered oil tanker, and an Emirati registered bunkering ship. The ships were anchored on the United Arab Emirates territorial waters for bunkering in Port of Fujairah. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates reported that the ships had been subject to a "sabotage attack". The United Arab Emirates launched a joint investigation probe with United States and France. The initial investigation assessment determined that 5-to-10-foot holes near or below all the ships' waterlines were probably caused by explosive charges.
Satellite image of the strategic Strait of Hormuz
Joint press statement by Norway, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations Security Council on 6 June 2019 regarding the findings of the investigation.
The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman, also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran, is a gulf in the Indian Ocean that connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz, which then runs to the Persian Gulf. It borders Iran and Pakistan on the north, Oman on the south, and the United Arab Emirates on the west.
Satellite view of Iran, Pakistan and the Gulf of Oman.
Khor Fakkan, a city in the Emirate of Sharjah, has one of the major container ports in the eastern seaboard of the United Arab Emirates.
U.S. Navy, French Navy, and Italian Navy aircraft carriers conduct operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility in the Gulf of Oman.
The western part of the Indian Ocean, by Vincenzo Maria Coronelli, 1693 from his system of global gores the Makran coast