Attacks hit the UAE after Iran blames it for the strikes

On Monday, the United Arab Emirates was hit by a barrage of missiles and drones that caused a fire at a vital oil facility, disrupted the busiest airport in the world, and killed one person.

Since the Middle East conflict began, Iran has continued to attack the United Arab Emirates, interfering with commercial aviation and attacking oil facilities on both sides of the Strait of Hormuz.

The oil-rich nation, which also acts as a conduit for international travel, is under economic strain as a result of the attacks.

In the usually quiet northern emirate of Umm Al Quwain, a drone attack damaged an unspecified building but inflicted no casualties, authorities said.

The slew of attacks came a day after Tehran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, said that US bases in the Middle East had been used to launch air raids and that missiles had been fired from the UAE to strike Iran’s Kharg Island. UAE officials have denied the claim.

In the eastern emirate of Fujairah, a drone attack on oil infrastructure sparked a fire, authorities said, reporting no injuries and adding that “efforts continue to bring it under control”.

The blaze came days after an AFP journalist saw smoke rising from a major energy installation in Fujairah.

A pipeline to the emirate allows a large proportion of the country’s oil exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway shut by Iran in response to US-Israeli attacks that sparked the war.

The UAE’s state-owned oil giant ADNOC has halted the loading of oil into storage tanks at their Fujairah facility, a source with knowledge of the operations told AFP, following repeated strikes on the energy installation there.

“ADNOC oil loading at Fujairah is suspended,” the source told AFP.

A Palestinian civilian was killed on the outskirts of the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi when a missile hit a car, the state media office said.

The UAE has reported seven deaths since the war began, including five civilians and two military personnel, who died in a helicopter crash blamed on a technical malfunction.