UAE secretly launched strikes on Iran during war, attacked oil refinery — report

Illustrative: Two women from the Iranian Red Crescent Society stand as a thick plume of smoke from a US-Israeli strike on an oil storage facility late Saturday rises into the sky in Tehran, Iran on March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

The United Arab Emirates carried out military strikes on Iran, making it the only other country to join the United States and Israel in their war against the Islamic Republic, according to a Monday report.

The strikes, which the UAE has not publicly acknowledged, included an attack on a refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The attack took place in early April, according to the report, which said it was around the time US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire, but did not specify if it was before or after the declaration.

Iran acknowledged at the time that the site had been attacked by an unspecified enemy, then responded by firing missiles and drones at the UAE and Kuwait, the Journal noted.

The Lavan Island attack was the only specific instance of the UAE participating in the war mentioned in the report.

One of the sources told the Journal that Washington positively received Abu Dhabi’s participation in the war, after other Gulf countries refused to actively join in the conflict.
An Emirates aircraft prepares for landing as a smoke plume rises from an ongoing fire near Dubai International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on March 16, 2026 (AFP)
The UAE’s Foreign Ministry declined the Journal’s request for comment on the reported strikes, but pointed to past declarations that it had a right to respond to Iran’s attacks. The Pentagon also declined to comment.

In March, multiple Hebrew media outlets put out near-simultaneous reports that the UAE had struck a desalination plant in Iran in response to Tehran’s strikes across the Gulf. The accounts sparked fury among Emirati officials, who called out what they called false Israeli media reports.

The Journal article did not shed light on that report.

During the US-Israel war on Iran, Tehran launched sustained attacks on the UAE, firing some 550 ballistic and cruise missiles and more than 2,200 drones, according to the Emirati defense ministry, making it the most-targeted country in the region, including Israel.

The UAE reported likely Iranian attacks restarted over the past week in their territories, as Tehran appeared to be ramping up its strikes in the region despite the fragile ceasefire.

Iran, which had vowed to strike US bases in the region, targeted states across the Gulf with missile fire during the war. It also blocked the Strait of Hormuz, choking off a key pathway for the flow of oil and natural gas.

While most projectiles fired at the UAE were intercepted, some struck military and civilian targets.

Israel launched its campaign against Iran, alongside the US, to degrade the Iranian regime’s military capabilities, distance threats posed by Iran — including its nuclear and ballistic missile programs — and “create the conditions” for the Iranian people to topple the regime, the military and other Israeli leaders have said.

The ceasefire declared by Trump in April came with the core declared goals of the war unfulfilled.