Tehran/Dubai: Iran launched missile and drone strikes against targets in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday after its strikes on three US destroyers were foiled.
The US Navy destroyers came under attack on Thursday while they were crossing the Strait of Hormuz. The ships successfully passed through the Strait and suffered no damage due to the firing, America said.
The country’s air defense system is “actively engaging” with the attacks, the UAE’s Ministry of Defense announced. People have been advised not to approach, photograph or touch “any debris or fragments that have fallen as a result of successful air interceptions,” as reported by WION.
Three Indian nationals were injured in an Iranian strike on an oil facility in Fujairah in the UAE recently. India has then condemned the attack.
“The UAE’s air defenses are currently dealing with missile and drone attacks originating from Iran, and the Ministry of Defense confirms that the sounds heard in various parts of the country are the result of the UAE air defense systems intercepting ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones,” the alert posted on X by the UAE’s Ministry of Defense stated.
“UAE Air Defences system are actively engaging with missiles and UAV threats. MOD asserts that the sounds heard across the country are the result of ongoing engaging operations of missiles and UAV’s,” the alert further stated.
On Thursday, US president Donald Trump had claimed American forces destroyed Iranian attackers targeting three US Navy destroyers as they passed through the Strait of Hormuz. He warned Tehran of harsher retaliation if it refuses to sign a deal soon.
“Three World Class American Destroyers just transited, very successfully, out of the Strait of Hormuz, under fire. There was no damage done to the three Destroyers, but great damage done to the Iranian attackers,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Iran’s version of events was different. Tehran’s military command accused Washington of initiating the exchange of fire, specifically by attacking an Iranian oil tanker and another ship, and said its forces “immediately and in retaliation attacked American military vessels.”
Tehran would communicate its position to mediator Pakistan after “finalising its views”, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said.
