UAE coast guard aids cargo vessel after being shot at by Iran boats

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) coast guard said on Thursday it helped a cargo ship flying Singapore flag came to the Dubai free port Jebel Ali after the vessel came under fire from four Iranian boats on international Gulf waters, state news agency WAM reported.

The report quoted an official source of the UAE coast guard as saying that it received a distress call from the ship, and came to the aid of it as the vessel sailed to the port.

Earlier, a U.S. official, who is not authorized to discuss details by name, said Iran's Revolutionary Guard forces fired warning shots at the commercial ship named the Alpine Eternity in international waters.

The official said the ship is involved in an unresolved financial spat with Iran, adding that on March 22, the Alpine Eternity hit an Iranian oil platform, and did some damage to it.

Iran then demanded that the shipping company pay for the damage.

Recently, Iran had captured a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel in the Gulf and released it later after Tehran said a commercial dispute is solved.

The Alpine Eternity is an oil-chemical tanker that had last stopped at a port in Bahrain, and is included in the fleet of Transpetrol, a commercial shipping company that transports oil and gas.