Dubai: The United Arab Emirates said it intercepted an Iranian drone over its waters Monday, an attack that comes after the United States and Iran exchanged fire over the weekend for the first time in a month.
Iranian officials said two people were killed and several others injured in the US attack Sunday night on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded by launching missiles at US sites in Jordan, which were intercepted.
During the lull in fighting, the US has been ratcheting up economic pressure on Iran with the hope of forcing concessions out of Tehran, including reopening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.
After the US and Israel attacked Iran February 28, Iran established a chokehold on the vital strait, though which a fifth of the world’s traded oil passed in peacetime, slowing ship traffic to a trickle. That has roiled the global economy, raising prices worldwide for energy and other goods.
As the fighting resumed, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed above USD 90, up about 25 per cent from the start of the war, presenting a growing problem for US President Donald Trump ahead of the midterm elections.
A return to open conflict would be dangerous for the region, where Iran has targeted US military bases and infrastructure in Gulf countries since the war began.
UAE says Iranian attack is a ‘dangerous escalation’
In a short statement, the UAE Defence Ministry said it “dealt with” an Iranian drone that was detected over its waters approaching from Iran. There were no reports of damage.
“This dangerous escalation constitutes a blatant violation of the UAE’s sovereignty, security, and stability, and a direct threat to the safety of its citizens and residents,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The Defence Ministry later issued a second statement denying a claim by the Iranian army that the Al Minhad Air Base in Dubai had been targeted, saying it was false.
In the wake of the US attack Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday Iran would “not hesitate to exercise the inherent right of legitimate defence and will respond decisively to any military aggression.”
Iran says it has right to defend itself and will respond ‘decisively’
Before heading to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s summit in Kyrgyzstan with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who has favoured a negotiated end to the conflict, stressed that Iran was not seeking war.
“But,” he said, “we will respond decisively to aggressors.”
The summit brings together a group billed as a counterweight to US global influence, and includes Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pezeshkian was scheduled to meet with Putin on the sidelines Tuesday.
US weekend attack comes after weeks of rising economic pressure
Meantime, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was set to host meetings of the Group of 20 finance ministers in North Carolina Monday and Tuesday, which come as Washington pressures other countries to help the US economically isolate Iran.
The shifting strategy centres on threats to punish any country or entity that continues to conduct business with Tehran.
Two weeks ago, the UAE suspended all trade with Iran after saying it had come under renewed fire from Iran, with two missiles fired at shipping traffic splashing down harmlessly in the Persian Gulf. Iran denied the attack.
Bessent later suggested it was pressure from Washington that led to the UAE decision.
Trump stressed last week that he is “not in a hurry” to get Iran back to the negotiating table, and he continues making the case that the Islamic Republic’s leadership is on the ropes.
Appointments to Iran’s senior security leadership in the past month, however, have signalled Tehran’s defiance after weathering decades of sanctions as well as a lack of tolerance for dissent at home.
US military says strike on Iranian rocket launchers limited and ‘precise’
On Sunday, US Central Command said it had struck Iranian launchers after observing forces with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. The US military said last week it had completed clearing sea mines from the waterway’s international shipping routes.
US military officials disputed Iran’s claim that the latest American strikes were an act of aggression, calling them a “limited, precise action” against what they said were minelaying forces.
Iranian state television later showed what it said were ballistic missiles being fired at American bases in Jordan, and Jordan’s military said it intercepted eight that had entered its airspace.
The last time the US military confirmed targeting Iran was July 29, when it announced a “heavy wave of strikes” on dozens of Revolutionary Guard targets, including coastal surveillance and defence sites.
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