Iran strikes back at UAE oil depots as battle to control the Strait of Hormuz continues

 A huge black smoke cloud rose from an oil depot in the United Arab Emirates as Iran launched a revenge attack following US strikes on Kharg Island.

Drone attacks struck an oil facility in the port of Fujairah in the UAE, causing a fire to break out and operations to be suspended on Saturday.

The depot exports more than 1.7 million barrels per day of crude oil, accounting for nearly two per cent of the daily world demand.

The attack came after the United States 'obliterated' Iran's Kharg Island, according to Donald Trump. 

Tehran furiously threatened revenge following the attack and retaliated with strikes on oil depots in the UAE. 

The President said he did not go after the island's oil infrastructure in its attack, but said he would 'reconsider' if Iran continues to block the Strait of Hormuz.

As he battles to regain control of the Strait, Trump urged world leaders to help escort oil tankers through the chokepoint in the Gulf.

He called on 'China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK and others' to send ships to escort tankers, while the US military continues to pound drone, boat and missile launch sites in Iranian territory on the north shore of the strait

The president bragged about the decisive strikes on Kharg Island on Friday evening in a post to his Truth Social account. 

'Moments ago, at my direction, the United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East, and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran's crown jewel, Kharg Island,' he wrote. 

In a move to try and take control of the Strait of Hormuz, he added: 'Should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.

Trumps statement comes amid increasing desperation for the crucial shipping lane to reopen. 

Global oil prices have surged by 40 percent as Iran has choked off the vital sea passage which accounts for 20 per cent of the world's oil supplies

The Iranian military responded to Trump's threats, warning that oil and energy infrastructure owned by US-linked firms would 'immediately be destroyed and turned into a pile of ashes' if the United States struck its oil facilities, according to Iranian media.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf warned on Thursday that attacks on the islands on Iran's southern maritime frontier would cause Iran to 'abandon all restraint', underscoring how central Kharg and its surrounding islands are to the country's economy and security.

Iran has exported 13.7million barrels since the war started, and multiple tankers were seen on satellite imagery on Wednesday loading at Kharg, according to TankerTrackers.com, a maritime intelligence company.

The small coral island carries huge importance to the Iranian regime as it holds oil facilities and a strategic location, 21 miles off Iran's coast. 

Iran gets a significant share of its $78billion a year in revenue from oil, with shipments flowing to countries like China.

Another strike on Kharg would not only damage Iran's current government but also could undermine the viability of whatever might eventually replace it.

The island has storage tanks in the south, along with housing for thousands of workers.

Iran's retaliatory strike on Fujairah demonstrated the regime's continued determination to disrupt oil trade across the world.

The depot sold 7.33 ​million metric tons of marine fuels in 2025, making it the fourth largest in the world after Singapore, Rotterdam and China's Zhoushan. 

The UAE, which before the war ​began produced more than 3.4 million bpd of crude, operates a 1.5 million ​bpd pipeline that can transport some crude to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

The Abu Dhabi Crude ‌Oil ⁠Pipeline (ADCOP), transports oil from Abu Dhabi's fields to Fujairah. The port loads the UAE crude grade Murban, sold mostly to buyers in Asia.

With Hormuz largely shut to exports, significant disruptions at Fujairah would force OPEC's third‑largest ​crude producer to ​shut down more ⁠production.

According to media reports, operations at the facility have resumed today. 

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said Britain is 'intensively looking' at how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end Iran's stranglehold over the key oil and gas shipping route.

He told the BBC the 'plan now has to be to de-escalate the conflict... We are talking to our allies. There are different ways in which we can make maritime shipping possible.' 

Other countries he listed have so far given only a guarded reception to the idea, and Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, in a call with French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot, warned them to 'refrain from any action that could lead to escalation and expansion of the conflict'. 

South Korea said it was 'closely monitoring President Trump's remarks on social media' while Takayuki Kobayashi, policy chief of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's ruling party, said the bar for sending Japanese navy ships to the region under existing laws was 'extremely high'. 

In a written statement, Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, vowed to keep Hormuz closed.

But Trump dismissed this and suggested his foe might not even be in control, saying: 'I don't know if he's even alive. So far, nobody has been able to show him.'

Iran said on Saturday that 'there is no problem with the new supreme leader', even though he has yet to appear in public.

US and Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,200 people in Iran, according to health ministry figures that could not be independently verified.

As of Friday, at least 13 US soldiers had lost their lives since Trump began striking two weeks ago.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that over 15,000 enemy targets have been struck - more than 1,000 a day since the war began.

He also sought to address concerns about the bottling of the Strait of Hormuz, telling reporters: 'We have been dealing with it and don´t need to worry about it.'

The UN refugee agency has estimated that up to 3.2million people have been displaced inside Iran since the war started.

Despite facing superior US and Israeli firepower, Iran has retaliated with missile and drone attacks against at least 10 countries.