For the second straight day, Iran has carried out coordinated missile and drone attacks across the United Arab Emirates, the Emirati Ministry of Defence confirmed in an official statement released Tuesday. According to the announcement, the country’s integrated air defense networks are actively engaging incoming threats launched directly from Iranian territory, with loud explosions echoing across multiple emirates as defensive systems intercept a mix of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles.
In a public advisory, the defense ministry urged UAE residents to remain calm and adhere strictly to guidance from national emergency authorities. It also issued a critical safety warning, advising the public against approaching, handling, or photographing any intercepted debris that has fallen to the ground, requesting that civilians allow specialized response teams to secure and evaluate the impacted sites.
This second wave of attacks comes just 24 hours after the UAE formally accused Iran of an extensive first-day barrage that caused visible damage and casualties. On Monday, a strike targeting the Fujairah oil refinery ignited a large fire, leaving three Indian nationals injured. Emirati defense officials confirmed their systems successfully intercepted and neutralized a total of 12 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles, and four drones launched by Iran during Monday’s assault.
The Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a harsh condemnation of the renewed attacks, describing the unprovoked strikes targeting civilian infrastructure as acts of terrorism. The statement emphasized that the UAE will not accept any violation of its national sovereignty and retains the full, legitimate right to launch a reciprocal response to the aggression.
Tehran has not issued an official formal response to the UAE’s accusations, but a senior unnamed Iranian military source told the country’s state-run broadcaster Irib that Iran had no premeditated plans to strike the Fujairah energy facility. The source instead shifted blame for the escalating violence to what it called “U.S. military adventurism,” claiming Washington is orchestrating tensions to open a corridor for illegal ship traffic through the restricted waterways of the Strait of Hormuz.
In the wake of Monday’s initial attacks, UAE civil aviation authorities implemented sweeping temporary restrictions on the country’s airspace, extending the regulatory changes through May 11. The updated rules limit all incoming, outgoing, and overflight traffic to a small set of approved designated routes. Authorities also announced they are tightening operational protocols for all aviation activity and have issued repeated warnings to flight crews about ongoing navigation disruptions across the country’s airspace.
The two days of attacks mark the first major strikes on Emirati territory since a fragile bilateral ceasefire took effect on April 8. Prior to that truce, between late February and early April, Iran launched near-daily air strikes across Gulf states in response to what it said were coordinated U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iranian interests. The UAE bore the brunt of that earlier offensive: by the end of March, Iranian forces had launched 398 ballistic missiles, 1,872 drones, and 15 cruise missiles at targets across the Emirates, according to Emirati tallies.
The renewed violence has pushed the UAE into its most severe economic crisis in decades, as the country’s economy depends heavily on four key stable sectors: international tourism, commercial and residential real estate, global logistics, and cross-border finance. Early market data shows that more than $120 billion in market capitalization has already been erased from the Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges over the past several weeks of escalating conflict. Airlines operating out of the UAE have also canceled more than 18,400 scheduled flights as airspace disruptions and traveler uncertainty cut into demand.