Residents of Dubai and Doha, Qatar, awoke to the sound of explosions on Tuesday as air defences worked to intercept new waves of incoming Iranian fire, and Israel launched new strikes on Iran and Lebanon, as the war in the Middle East showed no signs of abating.
Dubai, a major transit hub for international travel, briefly shut its airspace as the military said it was “responding to incoming missile and drone threats” around the city.
The Israeli military said early on Tuesday it had begun a “wide-scale wave of strikes” across Iran’s capital and was also stepping up strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel also reported two incoming salvos before dawn from Iran at Tel Aviv and elsewhere, and said Hezbollah targeted Israel’s north.
Iranian strikes pressure neighbours and oil markets
Iran kept up the pressure on the energy infrastructure of its Gulf Arab neighbours, hitting an oil facility in Fujairah, a UAE emirate on the country’s east coast with the Gulf of Oman that has been repeatedly targeted.
State-run WAM news reported that no one had been injured in the blast from the drone strike.
Iran’s attacks on Gulf nations and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported, has given rise to increasing concerns of a global energy crisis. Early on Tuesday it hit a tanker anchored off the coast of Fujairah, one of about 20 vessels hit since Israel and the United States started the war with an attack on Iran on February 28.
With Washington under increasing pressure over rising oil prices, Brent crude, the international standard, remained over $100 a barrel, up more than 40 percent since the war started.
US President Donald Trump said he had demanded that roughly a half-dozen countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. But his appeals brought no immediate commitments, with many saying they are hesitant to get involved in a war with no defined exit plan and skeptical that they could do more than the US Navy.
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UAE briefly closes airspace as Iran launches new attacks on Gulf neighbours
The UAE shut down its airspace early on Tuesday as its military reported it was “responding to missile and drone threats from Iran.” The closure lasted nearly two hours, and sounds of explosions could be heard as the military worked to intercept incoming fire.
The snap announcement on its airspace showed the balancing act Emirati authorities face in trying to keep their long-haul carriers, Emirates and Etihad, flying as Iranian attacks continue to target the country.
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry reported intercepting a dozen drones on Tuesday morning over the country’s vast Eastern Province, home to oil infrastructure.