DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia said Monday two of its oil tankers were sabotaged off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in attacks that caused “significant damage” to the vessels, one of them as it was en route to pick up Saudi oil to take to the U.S.

Khalid al-Falih’s comments came as the U.S. issued a new warning to sailors and the UAE’s regional allies condemned the reported sabotage Sunday of four ships off the coast of the port city of Fujairah. The announcement came just hours after Iranian and Lebanese media outlets aired false reports of explosions at the city’s port.

Emirati officials have declined to elaborate on the nature of the sabotage or say who might have been responsible. However, the reports come as the U.S. has warned ships that “Iran or its proxies” could be targeting maritime traffic in the region, and as America is deploying an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf to counter alleged threats from Tehran.

Tensions have risen in the year since President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, restoring American sanctions that have pushed Iran’s economy into crisis. Last week, Iran warned it would begin enriching uranium at higher levels in 60 days if world powers failed to negotiate new terms for the deal.

In his statement, al-Falih said the attacks on the two tankers happened at 6 a.m. Sunday.

“One of the two vessels was on its way to be loaded with Saudi crude oil from the port of Ras Tanura, to be delivered to Saudi Aramco’s customers in the United States,” al-Falih said. “Fortunately, the attack didn’t lead to any casualties or oil spill; however, it caused significant damage to the structures of the two vessels.”

Saudi Arabia did not identify the vessels involved, nor did it say whom it suspected of carrying out the alleged sabotage.

Underling the regional risk, the general-secretary of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council described the alleged sabotage as a “serious escalation” in an overnight statement.

“Such irresponsible acts will increase tension and conflicts in the region and expose its peoples to great danger,” Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani said. Bahrain, Egypt and Yemen’s internationally recognized government similarly condemned the alleged sabotage.

A statement Sunday from the UAE’s Foreign Ministry put the ships near the country’s territorial waters in the Gulf of Oman, east of the port of Fujairah. It said it was investigating “in cooperation with local and international bodies.” It said there were “no injuries or fatalities on board the vessels” and “no spillage of harmful chemicals or fuel.”

The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, which oversees the region, did not immediately offer comment. Emirati officials declined to answer questions from The Associated Press, saying their investigation is ongoing.

Earlier Sunday, Lebanon’s pro-Iran satellite channel Al-Mayadeen, quoting “Gulf sources,” falsely reported that a series of explosions had struck Fujairah’s port. State and semi-official media in Iran picked up the report from Al-Mayadeen, which later published the names of vessels it claimed were involved.

The AP, after speaking to Emirati officials and local witnesses, found the report about explosions at the port to be unsubstantiated.

Fujairah’s port is about 140 kilometers (85 miles) south of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a third of all oil at sea is traded. The facility handles oil for bunkering and shipping, as well as general and bulk cargo. It is seen as strategically located, serving shipping routes in the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent and Africa.

Sunday’s incident comes after the U.S. Maritime Administration, a division of the U.S. Transportation Department, warned Thursday that Iran could target commercial sea traffic.

“Since early May, there is an increased possibility that Iran and/or its regional proxies could take action against U.S. and partner interests, including oil production infrastructure, after recently threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz,” the warning read. “Iran or its proxies could respond by targeting commercial vessels, including oil tankers, or U.S. military vessels in the Red Sea, Bab-el-Mandeb Strait or the Persian Gulf.”

Early Sunday, the agency issued a new warning to sailors about the alleged sabotage, while stressing “the incident has not been confirmed.” It urged shippers to exercise caution in the area for the next week.

Publicly available satellite images of the area taken Sunday showed no smoke or fire.

It remains unclear if the previous warning from the U.S. Maritime Administration is the same perceived threat that prompted the White House to order the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group and B-52 bombers to the region on May 4.

Story: Jon Gambrell. Associated Press writers Aya Batrawy in Dubai and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES — Tesla CEO Elon Musk will have to go to trial to defend himself for mocking a British diver as a pedophile in a verbal sparring match that unfolded last summer after the underwater rescue of youth soccer players trapped in a Thailand cave.

A federal court judge in Los Angeles set an Oct. 22 trial date in a Friday court filing that rejected Musk’s attempt to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by British diver Vernon Unsworth.

Musk called Unsworth a “pedo” in a July 15 post on this Twitter account after Unsworth, in an interview with CNN, dismissed Musk’s attempts to help rescue the soccer players as a “PR stunt.” Unsworth also derided the submarine that Musk had built for a rescue mission, prompting Musk to lash back on this Twitter account, which had 22.5 million followers at the time

Musk contended his insult was protected from legal action, but the judge overseeing the case disagreed.

Unsworth is seeking more than $75,000 in damages from Musk, a multibillionaire. The suit also seeks a court order prohibiting Musk from making any further disparaging comments.

This is the second time in less than a year that Musk’s free-wheeling comments on Twitter have saddled him with legal headaches.

Last year, Musk and Tesla reached a $40 million settlement of allegations that he misled investors with a tweet declaring he had secured financing for a buyout of the electric car maker. He then had to go to court earlier this year to defend himself against assertions that he had violated an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission about his tweeting.

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó is looking to jumpstart his movement to oust Nicolas Maduro in the wake of last week’s failed military uprising, promising to persevere in the face of a deepening crackdown.

In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, Guaidó reiterated his willingness to consider inviting foreign troops to force Maduro from power, echoing the line from Washington that “all options” are on the table for dealing with Venezuela’s rapidly-escalating crisis.

He blamed the socialist leader for blocking all attempts to negotiate a solution and noted: “The biggest obstacle to that is Maduro.”

The 35-year-old national assembly president, who the U.S. and some 50 other countries recognize as Venezuela’s rightful leader, sat for the interview at his party’s headquarters two days after the No. 2 leader in congress was jailed and as several other lawmakers took refuge in foreign embassies. All are facing arrest for joining Guaidó and a small cadre of security forces in a military rebellion April 30 that was the closest the opposition has come in years to overthrowing Maduro.

Yet, Guaidó isn’t showing signs of fatigue.

He talks serenely and smiles widely when well-wishers huddle with him in prayer. While the Maduro government hasn’t dared arrest him — the U.S. has warned of severe consequences should he be harmed — he said security forces who track his every move could “kidnap” him at any time. Meanwhile, his fellow activist wife and 2-year-old daughter have been living outside Venezuela for months.

“There’s a movement made up of a majority that’s in the streets and that’s not going to change no matter how much they hit us,” he said. “The one thing the dictatorship fears most is hope.”

But observers note the fresh-faced opposition leader may be running out of options. Phil Gunson, a senior analyst with the Crisis Group in Caracas, said that after the failed military rebellion, it seems unlikely that the U.S. will carry through on threats of military action.

“He’s in a bind,” Gunson said. “If the repression is going to continue at this level, it’s going to be difficult to keep up his campaign of mass mobilization because people are going to be too scared to go out on the streets.”

In the current stalemate, Gunson said negotiations are the opposition’s best exit strategy. But demands that Maduro step aside as a precondition for talks are no longer a real possibility.

“They already played their best hand,” he said, referring to the opposition.

Nonetheless, Guaidó said winning over the military is possible and requires greater outreach so that troops understand they won’t be targeted if they flip. He said most top commanders and their troops already despise Maduro and are only feigning loyalty to him because they are under constant surveillance by Cuban and Venezuelan secret police.

“What keeps Maduro in power, and we’ve witnessed more openly in recent hours, is terror,” Guaidó said.

Guaidó, a previously unknown lawmaker, revived the flagging opposition movement when he declared himself interim president in January, accusing Maduro of breaking the constitutional order when he claimed victory in elections widely seen as lacking legitimacy after several opponents were barred from running.

His humble roots and unpretentious speech have endeared him to struggling Venezuelans and managed to keep together an unruly opposition coalition frequently torn apart by battling egos and strategic differences.

But old fractures are re-emerging as some blame prominent activist Leopoldo Lopez, who fled house arrest to stand alongside Guaidó in the uprising, for overplaying his hand. After the putsch failed, Maduro ordered Lopez’s arrest and the former Caracas area mayor fled to the Spanish ambassador’s residence, where he is holed up.

Lopez, who was arrested in 2014, is one of Venezuela’s shrewdest political operators who even while in state custody worked behind the scenes to promote Guaido’s rise when few Venezuelans had even heard of his name. But he’s also been dogged by criticism that he overestimates his own strength and takes ill-advised risks.

When pressed, Guaidó refused to criticize his mentor, noting that this was not the time to focus on personal ambitions.

Guaidó said he is grateful for support from the U.S., which has slapped severe oil sanctions on Venezuela and sent several planeloads of aid to bordering countries as part of a failed opposition plan to open a humanitarian corridor. With delivery of that aid unlikely for now, he said he’s willing to donate some of it to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is working with the Maduro government to distribute supplies.

He said sanctions aren’t to blame for Venezuela’s collapse, as the government contends, but are nonetheless succeeding in squeezing Maduro’s ability to buy support through corruption.

“Without hesitation they’ve called Maduro what he is: a dictator,” he said of the Trump administration.

But as the impasse with Maduro has dragged on, America’s interest could begin to wane.

Last week, Trump directly contradicted earlier statements by his own national security team that Russia has been propping up the socialist leader with military and financial support. Instead, the U.S. president said, Russian President Vladimir Putin was not “involved” and only wants “positive” things for Venezuela.

Guaidó downplayed Trump’s comments, saying they were “just a different way of reaching out to Russia.”

Meanwhile, he said he was encouraged by recent comments by China’s government that it would step up its work with the EU and the international community to support political dialogue. Coming from Venezuela’s biggest creditor and a Maduro ally, the remarks were seen as something of an endorsement for the International Contact Group, an EU-led initiative that is seeking to promote early elections — something Maduro has steadfastly refused to consider.

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AP writers Fabiola Sanchez in Caracas, Venezuela, and Christine Armario in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this story.