Published On 3 Apr 20263 Apr 2026<\/p>\n
An air strike has hit a power and desalination plant in Kuwait.<\/p>\n
And 12 people have been injured in the United Arab Emirates as missiles were intercepted causing debris to fall, authorities in both countries said.<\/p>\n
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Gulf nations continue to face retaliatory strikes on the 35th day<\/a> of the war by the United States and Israel on Iran.<\/p>\n Kuwaiti authorities blamed Iran for the strike before midday on Friday. The plant was not identified and the extent of the damage isn\u2019t known.<\/p>\n Following the attack, Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) denied responsibility and shifted blame to Israel.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s \u201cunconventional and illegitimate attack on Kuwait\u2019s water desalination centres is a sign of the vileness and baseness of the Zionist occupiers,\u201d the IRGC said in a statement posted on Telegram.<\/p>\n Iran \u201ccondemn[s] this inhuman act and announce that the American bases and military in the region and the military and security centres of the Zionist regime in the occupied Palestinian territories are our powerful targets,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n The attack came hours after Kuwait\u2019s Al-Ahmadi oil refinery was also targeted in early morning drone strikes. State news agency KUNA said the attack caused fires in a \u201cnumber of operational units,\u201d and no employees were injured. Emergency and firefighting teams were sent, environmental experts are monitoring air quality.<\/p>\n Al Jazeera\u2019s Malik Traina, reporting from the capital, Kuwait City, said this was the third time the refinery has been hit and that people across the country are on \u201chigh alert\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of the biggest refineries in the Middle East and it is also critical for local consumption,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cKuwait is the closest country to Iran \u2013 just 80 kilometres separates Kuwait from Iran\u2019s coastline, so it\u2019s perhaps the most easily targeted from these attacks from Iran,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n In an early post on X, KUNA warned that \u201chostile missile and drone attacks\u201d on Kuwait were under way. Sirens sounded during midair explosions as interceptions of Iranian missiles were heard across the country, the agency reported.<\/p>\n Kuwait and much of the Gulf are highly dependent<\/a> on desalinated water. An Indian national was killed<\/a> on March 30 after a Kuwaiti power and desalination plant was hit. Iran denied claims it launched the attacks and blamed Israel.<\/p>\n On Friday, Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed the deployment of a British ground-based air defence system in Kuwait, KUNA reported.<\/p>\n Twelve injured; data centres targeted<\/p>\n Meanwhile on Friday, the UAE defence ministry said the country was battling a new wave of suspected Iranian missile and drone attacks.<\/p>\n At least 12 people were injured in Abu Dhabi\u2019s Ajban Area after debris fell from projectiles being intercepted, according to Abu Dhabi\u2019s media office. It said at least seven of those are citizens of Nepal and five are Indian.<\/p>\n Falling debris also caused a fire at the Habshan gas facility, a major Emirati gas processing complex. The Abu Dhabi media office said \u201coperations have been suspended while authorities respond\u201d.<\/p>\n UAE air defences intercepted 19 ballistic missiles and 26 drones on Thursday alone, the defence ministry said \u2013 just a fraction of the hundreds of missiles and thousands of drones Iran has allegedly targeted the country with since the war was started by the US and Israel.<\/p>\n At least two service members have been killed and 191 people of different nationalities injured, said UAE authorities.<\/p>\n Saudi Arabia said it destroyed a drone in its airspace overnight, while Bahrain sounded missile alarms three times, the Anadolu Agency reported.<\/p>\n Iranian leaders also appear to be making good on earlier warnings to hit major US technology firms in the Gulf as attacks on Iran continue.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s state-run IRNA news agency reported on Friday that Tehran targeted an Oracle data centre in Dubai in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that injured former Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi<\/a> and killed his wife on April 1. The Dubai Media Office alleged it was \u201cfake news\u201d.<\/p>\n On Monday, Amazon Web Services confirmed that two of its data centres in the UAE were \u201cdirectly struck\u201d and that a third in Bahrain was damaged by a nearby drone strike.<\/p>\n The attacks appeared to have resulted in localised and limited disruption to AWS\u2019s servers, said the Associated Press news agency.<\/p>\n