There has been widespread condemnation in the Middle East and beyond, of an Iranian attack on the United Arab Emirates on Monday (4 May). The GCC countries, Jordan, UK, Canada and Germany were among those that condemned the attack.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) accused Iran of attacking the country with a barrage of missiles and drones, setting an oil refinery ablaze in the eastern emirate of Fujairah and wounding three Indian nationals. Fujairah is one of the seven emirates that form the UAE.
The attacks on Monday mark the first on the UAE since Iran and the United States agreed to a ceasefire on April 8.
They came after US President Donald Trump launched an effort to escort stranded tankers out the vital energy chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely closed since the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28.
Iran’s unified military command warned commercial ships against taking up the US offer and said that American forces “will be attacked if they intend to approach and enter the Strait of Hormuz”.
The UAE’s Ministry of Defence said its air defences “engaged” 12 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and four drones launched from Iran over the course of the day.
The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned in the “strongest terms the renewed terrorist, unprovoked Iranian attacks, targeting civilian sites and facilities in the country”.
It said it will not tolerate any threat to the UAE’s security and sovereignty and warned that it reserves the “full and legitimate right to respond” to the attacks.
In Iran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency later cited an unnamed source as warning that if the “UAE takes unwise action, all of its interests will become Iran’s target”. The emirate of Fujairah (part of the UAE), said an Iranian drone sparked a “large fire” at the Fujairah Petroleum Industries Zone and that said three Indian citizens were moderately injured during the attack.
source: commonspace.eu with Al Jazeera (Doha) and agencies
photo: Fujairah (archive picture)
