ABU DHABI \u2014 The United Arab Emirates has withdrawn from a US-led maritime coalition tasked with securing tense Gulf waterways that are vital to the global oil trade, it said Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UAE \u201cwithdrew its participation\u201d in the 38-nation Combined Maritime Forces two months ago, a foreign ministry statement said, without giving reasons for the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs a result of our ongoing evaluation of effective security cooperation with all partners, two months ago, the UAE withdrew its participation in the Combined Maritime Forces,\u201d said the statement carried by the official WAM news agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bahrain-headquartered CMF was established in 2001, initially as a partnership between 12 nations. It is active in crucial but troubled Gulf waters where tankers have been seized and attacked in recent months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesperson for the Combined Maritime Forces said the UAE remains a partner nation, despite putting its participation on hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe CMF still includes 38 partner nations, of which the UAE is one,\u201d Commander Timothy Hawkins told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran seized two tankers in a week in late April and early May, including one empty ship that was traveling between the UAE ports of Dubai and Fujairah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran was also accused of launching a drone attack against an Israeli-owned tanker in November 2022, stoking tensions with the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this month, the US said it was sending reinforcements to the Gulf, which carries at least a third of the world\u2019s sea-borne oil, after what it called increasing harassment by Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The commander of the US Navy\u2019s Fifth Fleet, Vice-Admiral Brad Cooper, later transited through the Strait of Hormuz in a guided-missile destroyer along with British and French naval commanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran responded by saying it is capable of ensuring the safety of Gulf waters in cooperation with neighboring countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe UAE remains committed to responsibly ensuring the safety of navigation in its seas,\u201d the UAE statement said, adding that the major oil exporter is \u201ccommitted to peaceful dialogue and diplomatic engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ABU DHABI \u2014 The United Arab Emirates has withdrawn from a US-led maritime coalition tasked with securing tense Gulf waterways that are vital to the global oil trade, it said Wednesday. The UAE \u201cwithdrew its participation\u201d in the 38-nation Combined Maritime Forces two months ago, a foreign ministry statement said, without giving reasons for the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15,14],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-combined-maritime-forces","tag-uae"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions\/34"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hkg01.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}