Iran struck the United Arab Emirates and Oman on Tuesday, resuming military action one month after a ceasefire, as the United States launched its "Project Freedom" operation. The attack on the UAE is seen as aimed at countering its deepening ties with Washington and Israel, while also blocking export routes that bypass the Strait of Hormuz.
The UAE Defense Ministry said Tuesday that it had intercepted four drones, three cruise missiles and 12 ballistic missiles fired from Iran. A drone strike ignited a fire at an oil industrial complex in Fujairah, UAE, injuring three people. Earlier, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced a new control zone in the Strait of Hormuz that extends into UAE waters off Fujairah.
The attack is interpreted as retaliation against U.S. efforts to resume shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been blocked, and as a move to eliminate potential workarounds. The targeted Fujairah oil industrial complex houses a crude export terminal directly connected to Abu Dhabi's oil fields, allowing exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.
Hamidreza Azizi, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), told maritime publication The Maritime Executive that "Iran's move is intended to deliberately escalate tensions over the UAE's oil export bypass routes." He added, "The goal is to threaten alternative export routes, keep oil prices high, and block any perception of normalization of relations." With even the bypass routes exposed to danger, the global energy supply crunch could deepen. If Iran actually enforces the control, oil trade could decline by as much as 1.5 million to 1.8 million barrels per day, according to estimates.
An attack believed to have been carried out by Iran also occurred in Oman. According to the Oman News Agency the same day, a residential building in northern Oman, near the UAE, was attacked, wounding two people. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), analyzed that "Iran is seeking to demonstrate control of the strait in response to U.S. attempts to secure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz."
As the strikes resumed, rhetoric from both the United States and Iran, previously restrained, has sharpened. In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened that Iran "will completely vanish from the face of the earth" if it attacks American vessels.
Iran's chief negotiator, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, fired back on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday, saying, "The safety of navigation and energy transport has been put at risk by the United States and its allies violating the ceasefire and imposing a blockade." He added, "The U.S. may not be able to tolerate the current situation continuing, but we have not even begun."
