Oman's Duqm port was hit by two drones, injuring one worker, state-owned new agency Ona said Sunday, marking the first time the sultanate has been drawn into the series of missile and drone attacks linked to the escalating tensions between Iran, Israel and the US.
Citing a security source, Ona said one of the drones struck a mobile housing unit for workers, injuring an expatriate, while the debris from the second drone fell near fuel storage tanks. No further casualties or damage were reported.
The strike comes despite Oman having acted as the primary mediator in the indirect talks between the US and Iran earlier this month. Oman's foreign minister Badr al-Busaidi said following the last round of talks on 26 February that the two sides had made "significant progress," although no formal agreement was reached.
Tehran and Washington were due to hold a new round of talks this coming week in Vienna.
But the situation spiralled into open conflict on Saturday when the US and Israel launched a coordinated military operation against Iran, prompting Tehran to retaliate by launching missiles and drones at Israel and US military assets in the Mideast Gulf region. The Duqm attack is the first on Omani soil in the recent wave of regional strikes which have affected several neighboring countries, but spared the sultanate until now.
Ports in the UAE and Kuwait have also been affected. In Dubai, debris from an aerial interception sparked a fire at one of the berths at Jebel Ali Port. Civil defence teams responded quickly and no injuries were reported, the authorities said in on social media platform X on Saturday. In Kuwait, operations at Shuaiba port were suspended on Saturday as a precaution after debris from an unidentified aerial object fell nearby.
