UAE hit with Iranian missiles in first attacks under fragile ceasefire

Foreign workers look on following an explosion in the Fujairah industrial zone on March 3, 2026. The area was hit again on Monday. Photo by FADEL SENNA /AFP via Getty Images

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Iran attacked the United Arab Emirates for the first time in almost a month on Monday, as tensions between the U.S. and Islamic Republic rose.

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The UAE said its air defence systems engaged with 12 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and four drones fired from Iran at different parts of the Gulf country, fracturing an uneasy calmness since a ceasefire between Tehran and the U.S.-Israel alliance took hold around April 8.

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An oil terminal part owned by Vitol Group was attacked in the port city of Fujairah, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Fujairah’s media office said a large fire started at an oil industrial zone after a drone attack from Iran. Three people were injured, it said.

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Several mobile-phone alerts were sent to people in Dubai, urging them to get to safe areas, and other emirates, including Abu Dhabi.

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Oil jumped, with Brent crude trading almost six per cent higher at roughly US$114 a barrel.

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The fresh strikes underscore the fragility of the truce. The war began in late February with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, which retaliated by firing thousands of missiles and drones at Israel and Gulf Arab states. Thousands of people have been killed, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, where Israel is fighting a parallel conflict against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.

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The UAE was targeted more than any other country. Its Foreign Ministry described the latest strikes as a “dangerous escalation,” saying the country “will not tolerate any threat to its security and sovereignty under any circumstances, and that it reserves its full and legitimate right to respond to these unprovoked attacks.”

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The Ministry of Education once again implemented distance learning from Tuesday through Friday across nurseries and public and private schools nationwide. It was previously applied from March 2 until April 17 before the UAE resumed in-person classes on April 20.

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The alerts in the UAE came hours after a tanker owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. was fired upon by Iranian drones near the Strait of Hormuz.

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They also came shortly after the US began what President Donald Trump said was a “humanitarian” effort to get ships stranded in the Persian Gulf out via the strait. As part of that, two U.S.-flagged merchant ships have so far transited the strait, the U.S. military said.

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Iran warned it would attack U.S. forces if they came near Hormuz and told commercial ships not to cross the waterway without seeking permission.

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