Fire at UAE’s major Fujairah oil hub, as Iran vows retaliation for US attack on Kharg Island

(Reuters)

WASHINGTON/DUBAI/JERUSALEM, March 14 – Iran warned it could hit selected targets, ​including U.S. “hideouts” in the United Arab Emirates, and warned civilians to evacuate on Saturday, projecting defiance after U.S. forces hit military sites at its own main oil hub a day earlier.

Some oil-loading operations have been ‌suspended in the UAE’s Fujairah emirate, a major bunkering hub and crude export terminal, industry and trade sources said, with TV footage showing plumes of dark thick smoke rising into the air.

An Iranian military spokesperson called on people in the UAE to evacuate the ports, docks, and ‘American hideouts’ saying U.S. forces had targeted Iranian islands from those areas.

U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened to strike the oil infrastructure of Iran’s Kharg Island hub unless Tehran stopped attacking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, a warning that could further roil markets coping with a historic supply disruption.

Trump paired his ​Friday ultimatum with a social media post saying the U.S. had “totally obliterated” military targets on the island, the export terminal for 90% of Iran’s oil shipments, which lies about 300 miles (500 km) northwest of the strait.