UAE Takes Stand Regarding Oil Smuggling

The United Arab Emirates, battling one of the worst oil spills to affect its coastline in years, reportedly has stepped up measures against tankers smuggling Iraqi oil in defiance of a U.N. embargo. The UAE decision comes after a sanctions-busting Iraqi tanker, the Zainab, sank off the coast of Dubai, causing an oil slick that has spread to the country's northern shores.

The tanker, which was carrying 1,300 tons of fuel oil, was one of two ships seized in UAE waters last week after they were intercepted by a multinational sanctions-enforcing force. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs said that a special committee that the sanction-busting ships would be confiscated and their owners prosecuted. It was reported that a port official in Abu Dhabi as saying eight ships stopped by UAE authorities were being held at Mina Zayed in the capital. He said the tankers' cargoes were likely to be auctioned and the vessels put up for sale. The seized ships include the Honduran-flagged Diamond, which was intercepted on Friday.