FUJAIRAH, May 6 - At the UAE port of Fujairah, conveyor belts offloaded grain from bulk carriers on Wednesday, while crude oil flowed through pipes and onto tankers berthed along its quay.

Dozens of loaded trucks lined up near the port and others parked outside waiting their turn, while offshore, vessels labelled Cosco, Gardenia and other shipping lines lay at anchor, service boats weaving between them.

Fujairah and Khor Fakkan, another eastern port with open access to the Indian Ocean, have become the UAE's economic lifeline since the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

They are now handling the bulk of the UAE's seaborne trade in place of the major terminals on the western coast inside the Gulf, where ships have been stranded.

Since the start of the Iran war, crude exports through Fujairah have risen 38%, pushing towards the upper limit of the pipeline that feeds the port. At Khor Fakkan, terminal operator Gulftainer said the number of containers it handles has jumped roughly 25-fold.

Iran reminded the Gulf region on Monday, however, just how exposed the ports are when its drones hit the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, sparking a fire at one of the UAE's most critical energy facilities and injuring three workers.

Hours earlier, Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy had published a map appearing to extend its zone of control along the UAE's eastern coastline, encompassing both ports. Shipping sources said on Tuesday that neither port had yet been affected, but the message from Tehran was clear.

The UAE foreign ministry directed Reuters' request for comment to official statements by UAE federal and Fujairah authorities, ADNOC and state news agency WAM. Top UAE officials have repeatedly stressed that freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is a critical priority and have said they reserve the right to respond to attacks against the UAE.

"No country has the right to disrupt international trade flows or threaten supply routes," Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told a logistics forum in St. Petersburg last month.