Iran continues intensified attacks across Gulf in US-Israeli war fallout

Iran has pressed on with sustained missile and drone attacks across the Gulf region, despite repeated protests from its neighbours, in ongoing retaliation in the war launched by the United States and Israel.

Tehran’s strikes targeted multiple countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), late on Friday and into Saturday.

In the UAE’s Fujairah emirate, a fire broke out at a major bunkering hub after debris fell during the interception of a drone, the emirate’s media office said on Saturday. It added that a Jordanian citizen was lightly injured in the incident.

Civil defence forces were handling the incident and trying to contain the fire, it said.

⁠Some oil-loading operations were suspended in the aftermath, industry and trade sources told the Reuters news agency.

Fujairah, outside the Strait of Hormuz, is the outlet for about one million barrels per ‌day of the UAE’s Murban crude oil – a volume equal to about 1 percent of world demand.

Separately, the Dubai Media Office said falling debris struck the facade of a building in its central area, after an Iranian attack was “successfully” shot down. No fire occurred, no injuries were reported, and the situation is now contained, the media office said, without specifying if it was caused by a missile or a drone.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday that US interests in the UAE, including ports, docks and military locations, are legitimate targets after US forces attacked Iranian islands, Iranian state media reported.

In its statement, the IRGC urged residents in the UAE to evacuate ports, docks, and US military shelters to avoid civilian casualties. The UAE said its air defences intercepted nine ballistic missiles and 33 drones launched from Iran on Saturday.

Blast over Qatar, Saudi

Separately on Saturday, Qatar’s Ministry of Defence said the country was subjected to an attack involving four ballistic missiles and several drones launched from Iran – all of which were successfully intercepted.

An intercepted missile strike was announced at about 2am (11:00 GMT) on Saturday, while another one was reported later in the morning. Temporary evacuation measures were put in place in some areas.

Al Jazeera’s Dmitry Medvedenko, reporting from Doha, said there was a large blast over the skies above the city at about 1:30am on Saturday (22:30 GMT on Friday).

“It was felt all across the city,” Medvedenko said, adding, “For the first time in two weeks of this conflict, certain parts of the city actually received evacuation orders about an hour before the attack happened.

“Many people had to spend a few hours in basements, not allowed to return to their homes. This was unprecedented,” our correspondent said.

In neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Defence said six ballistic missiles launched towards the kingdom’s al-Kharj governorate were intercepted and destroyed on Saturday.

The ministry also said late on Friday that the country’s armed forces intercepted a ballistic missile launched towards the al-Kharj governorate.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported late on Friday that five US Air Force refuelling planes were damaged in recent days while on the ground at an airbase in Saudi Arabia, without saying where exactly the attack occurred.

According to the WSJ, quoting unnamed US officials, the aircraft were damaged in an Iranian strike.

However, US President Donald Trump later criticised the WSJ reporting, saying in a post on ⁠Truth Social: “the Base was hit a few days ago but the planes were not ‘struck’ or ‘destroyed’”.

“Four of the five had virtually no ‌damage, and are already back in service. One had slightly more damage, but will be in the air shortly,” Trump wrote.

The WSJ said ‌that no one was killed and the planes were being ‌repaired, adding that US Central Command (CENTCOM) declined to comment on the report.

Three injured in Kuwait

Meanwhile, in other attacks across the region, three army personnel were injured in an attack on an air base in Kuwait, the military said on Saturday.

Air defence systems detected seven hostile drones; three were intercepted and destroyed, two others fell outside the threat zone and posed no danger, while two struck the Ahmed al‑Jaber Air Base in southern Kuwait, the spokesperson for the Kuwait Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

The strike caused material damage in the vicinity of the base, and three personnel sustained minor injuries, but their condition is stable, the ministry added.

Later on Saturday, several drones struck Kuwait’s international airport and hit its radar system but did not injure anyone, the country’s civil aviation authority said.

Separately, Jordan’s Armed Forces said on Saturday that air defences intercepted 79 missiles and drones out of 85 launched from Iran during the second week of the war.

Air defences failed to stop five drones and one missile, which fell inside Jordanian territory, it added.
Jordan’s Public Security Directorate said 93 reports were received regarding falling debris from missiles and drones across most governorates over the past week.

Iran has been launching missile and drone attacks across the Gulf region, targeting US assets and military bases as well as commercial and civilian sites, while the US and Israel continue attacking sites in Iran.

Trump said on Friday that the US carried out strikes against “every military target” on Iran’s Kharg Island export hub, claiming that it did not strike oil infrastructure there.