The United Arab Emirates’ air force intercepted an Iranian drone over its territorial waters Monday, the Defense Ministry said, an attack that comes after the United States and Iran exchanged fire on the weekend, the first significant military action in a month.
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 vital Strait of Hormuz to shipping.
After the US and Israel attacked Iran on Febryary 28, Iran established a chokehold on the strait, though which a fifth of the world’s traded oil passed in peacetime, slowing ship traffic to a trickle.
As the fighting resumed, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed above $90, up about 25% from the start of the war, presenting a growing problem for US President Donald Trump ahead of the midterm elections.
In a short statement, the Defense Ministry said it “dealt with” an Iranian drone that was detected over its waters approaching from Iran. There were no reports of damage.
The UAE Defense 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.
The incident came after US forces on Sunday struck Iranian rocket launchers on an Iranian island, breaking a lull in fighting in the war that has lasted more than six months.
Iran responded by launching missiles at US sites in Jordan, which were intercepted.
Early Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said that Iran would “not hesitate to exercise the inherent right of legitimate defense and will respond decisively to any military aggression.”
Before heading to attend the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation’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 on Tuesday.
