DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — 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 U.S. 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 U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 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 U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of the midterm elections.
UAE says Iranian attack is a ‘dangerous escalation’
In a short statement, the UAE Defense 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 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 U.S. 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 U.S. sites in Jordan, which were intercepted.
Early Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Iran would “not hesitate to exercise the inherent right of legitimate defense 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 favored 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 U.S. 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.
US weekend attack comes after weeks of rising economic pressure
Meantime, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was set to host meetings of the Group of 20 finance ministers in North Carolina on Monday and Tuesday, which come as Washington pressures other countries to help the U.S. economically isolate Iran.
The shifting strategy centers 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 signaled 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, U.S. 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 U.S. military said last week it had completed clearing sea mines from the waterway’s international shipping routes.
Semiofficial news outlets in Iran reported sounds of explosions near Larak island on the strait and the Revolutionary Guard said there had been casualties.
U.S. 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.
A return to open conflict would be dangerous for the region, where Iran has targeted U.S. military bases and infrastructure in Gulf countries since the war began on Feb. 28.
The last time the U.S. military confirmed targeting Iran was on July 29, when it announced a “heavy wave of strikes” on dozens of Revolutionary Guard targets including coastal surveillance and defense sites.
Trump said on Aug. 1 he would order the military to hold off on new strikes at the urging of Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
BeeBright / Depositphotos.com
