IDF on High Alert After UAE Reports Iranian Missile Attacks - Middle East Updates
Israel's defense bodies are on high alert after the United Arab Emirates announced on Monday that Iran launched a combined missile and drone attack on the country, as at least five people were wounded in strikes across the Persian Gulf.
At the time of writing, wartime security restrictions in Israel have not been changed following the escalation in the Gulf.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News' Trey Yingst that Iran would be "blown off the face of the Earth" if it attacks U.S. ships involved with ensuring commercial activity in the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking with ABC's Jonathan Karl, Trump did not say he considered Iran's attack a violation of the cease-fire. He said Iran's missiles and drones were "shot down for the most part," but "One got through. Not huge damage."
The president's new mission, "Project Freedom," was the first apparent attempt to make use of naval power to unblock the world's most important energy shipping route, and provoked the biggest escalation of the Iran war since a cease-fire was declared four weeks ago.
Three Indian nationals were moderately wounded after an oil installation in the United Arab Emirates's Fujairah was struck by a drone, igniting a fire at the site, Emirati officials said. Officials said that civil defense teams were deployed immediately and continued efforts to contain the blaze.
The UAE Defense Ministry said that Tehran fired at least 12 ballistic missiles at the country, three cruise missiles and four drones, with several being intercepted over UAE territorial waters.
CNN reported that the interceptions were conducted with an Israeli air defense system,deployed secretly at the beginning of the war with Iran alongside IDF soldiers trained to operate the system.
Israeli officials told Axios that the system intercepted dozens of Iranian missiles. A senior Israeli official said this marked the first time Israel had deployed an Iron Dome battery in another country, and the first time the system was used outside Israel and the United States. In addition, the British military reported two cargo vessels ablaze off the UAE.
The country's Foreign Ministry said the attack constituted a "serious escalation" and a "direct threat" to national security. It said the United Arab Emirates reserves its "full and legitimate right" to respond.
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Iranian state media, citing a senior military official, denied any intention to target the United Arab Emirates. They added that the incident was "the result of the U.S. military's adventurism to create passage for illegal ship transit" through the Strait of Hormuz.
Abu Dhabi authorities have continuously issued missile threat alerts from Monday afternoon into the night.
In Oman, two foreign citizens were moderately wounded after a strike was reported on a residential building in the town of Bukha, bordering the United Arab Emirates, the Omani news agency reported, without attributing the strike.
Air defense systems are currently responding to a missile threat. Please remain in a safe location and follow official channels for warnings and updates.
Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, told reporters that American forces have successfully opened a passage through the strait that is free of Iranian mines. He said Iran launched multiple cruise missiles, drones and small boats at civilian ships under the U.S. military's protection.
U.S. military helicopters sank six of the small boats, Cooper said, adding that "each and every" threat had been defeated.
"The U.S. commanders who are on the scene have all the authority necessary to defend their unit and to defend commercial shipping -- as we saw and demonstrated earlier today," Cooper said.
Trump had warned Sunday that Iranian efforts to halt passage through the strait "will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully." Iran's military command, meanwhile, has warned that ships passing through the strait must coordinate with them.
He described "Project Freedom" in humanitarian terms, designed to aid stranded seafarers on hundreds of ships that have been stuck in the Persian Gulf since the war began.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency called the effort part of Trump's "delirium."
The South Korean government said an explosion and fire had broken out aboard a South Korean-operated ship anchored in the strait off the UAE. No injuries were reported. It was not immediately known if the vessel was one of the burning ships reported by the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center.
Trump told ABC that the United States is going to "look into" the Iranian attack. "Shots were fired at a South Korean ship, and I think South Korea should take some action ... This was a South Korean ship riding by itself. It was not an escorted ship."
Flight-tracking data cited by Flightradar24 showed multiple UAE-bound flights diverting to Muscat amid reports of missile activity in the region.