UAE says Iran fired two missiles at country as war continues; Islamic Republic denies strikes

THE United Arab Emirates said that two ballistic missiles were fired towards the country from Iran, the Islamic Republic’s first known attack on the Gulf nation since May as the wider Middle East war continues unabated. 

Both missiles fell into the sea, with one of them dropping within the UAE’s territorial waters and the other outside, the country’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday (Aug 18).

Assessments indicated the projectiles were meant to target maritime traffic, the ministry added later.

All trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran have been halted until further notice, in light of “regional escalations that undermine regional and international peace and security”, according to a statement by the UAE’s foreign ministry.

Iran denied firing missiles at the UAE. Its foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Telegram that all regional parties should refrain from making “baseless accusations”.

Residents in Dubai received on Tuesday a missile threat alert as the UAE said its air defence systems were dealing with incoming missiles.

The Interior Ministry declared the situation “safe” shortly afterward. This came after Teheran’s recent strikes against UAE-linked ships in the Strait of Hormuz.  

The last time the UAE Defense Ministry confirmed being attacked by Iran was in May, when Teheran carried out several strikes on the country.

Early in May, Iran fired 15 missiles and four drones on the UAE, which said later in the month that a drone targeting a nuclear power plant on its soil was launched from Iraq, where Iranian-backed militias are located.

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UAE says Iran attacked two ADNOC vessels in Strait of Hormuz; no injuries

Two Abu Dhabi National Oil vessels were struck while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday and another was hit on Friday evening, according to the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency. 

A fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas used to pass through the waterway before the ongoing Iran war, which broke out when the US and Israel carried out airstrikes on the country on Feb 28. 

Traffic through Hormuz has been dramatically reduced over the past months, with Iran targeting tankers and commercial vessels.

International diplomatic efforts have so far failed to defuse tensions and end a stalemate between Teheran and Washington. BLOOMBERG