UAE says Iran fired 2 missiles at country, as war drags on

The United Arab Emirates said that two ballistic missiles were fired towards the country from Iran, the Islamic Republic’s first known attack on the Gulf nation since May as the wider Middle East war continues unabated.

Both missiles fell into the sea, with one of them dropping within the UAE’s territorial waters and the other outside, the country’s defence ministry said Tuesday.

Assessments indicated the projectiles were meant to target maritime traffic, the ministry added later.

All trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran have been halted until further notice, in light of “regional escalations that undermine regional and international peace and security”, according to a statement by the UAE’s foreign ministry.

Iran denied firing missiles at the UAE. Its foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Telegram that all regional parties should refrain from making “baseless accusations”.

Residents in Dubai received on Tuesday a missile threat alert as the UAE said its air defence systems were dealing with incoming missiles. The interior ministry declared the situation “safe” shortly afterwards.