UAE to host European-led mission to monitor Gulf waters

A European-led maritime mission to monitor Gulf waters will be stationed at French naval base in Abu Dhabi, French defence minister said Sunday, amid regional tensions with Iran.

U.S. blames oil tanker attacks on Tehran

France plans to build a European-led maritime force to keep a watch on Gulf waters aimed at making maritime navigation in Gulf waters as safe as possible. A French Naval base in Abu Dhabi will serve as hequarters for European-led mission and is expected to be operational soon according to reports. "We formally agreed that command centre of European maritime surveillance initiative will be on UAE territory,"  French Defence Minister Florence Parly said. She also said that base will host around a dozen officials representing countries involved,  a visit to base. However, she did t identify participants of base, saying that some were still waiting for ir respective parliaments to ratify ir participation in initiative.

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Strong ties between France and Abu Dhabi

This comes in backdrop of United States blaming Tehran for attacking it's oil tankers in region. Iran however, has denied charges. Earlier, Washington launched a maritime coalition based in Bahrain to provide protection to shipping in Gulf waters and strategic Strait of Hormuz.  French Defence Minister earlier took a dig at United Staes for failing to respond to provocations blamed on Iran. She also assured help to Saudi Arabia and said that France will send a rar to Saudi Arabia to help bolster kingdom's defence system after Riyh requested help following a September assault on kingdom's oil facilities. 

Abu Dhabi and France share strong ties and have signed a number of agreements. In 2009, France opened its first military base in UAE and stationed 700 personnel permanently. 

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(with inputs from ncies)