Iran warned it could strike selected targets, including US ‘hideouts’ in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and warned civilians to evacuate specific areas on Saturday, projecting a defiant stance after US forces struck military installations in its main oil hub the day before.
Some oil loading operations have been suspended in the UAE’s Fujairah emirate, a major fuel supply hub and the country’s crude oil export terminal, industry and trade sources said, with TV footage showing clouds of thick, dark smoke rising into the air.
An Iranian military spokesman called on people in the UAE to evacuate ports, docks and ‘American hideouts’, saying US forces were targeting Iranian islands from those areas.
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US President Donald Trump has threatened to attack the oil infrastructure of Iran’s central Kharg island unless Tehran stops attacking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, a warning that could further roil markets that are dealing with a historic supply disruption.
Trump paired his Friday ultimatum with a social media post saying the US had ‘totally destroyed’ military targets on the island, the export terminal for 90% of Iran’s oil shipments, which is about 500km northwest of the strait.
As the war enters its third week, Iran has nevertheless downplayed the extent of the damage in Kharg, threatening to step up the use of more powerful weapons and warning that parts of the United Arab Emirates are a legitimate target.
“We declare to UAE leaders that Iran considers it a legitimate right to defend its national sovereignty and territory by targeting the source of US enemy missile launches at US seaports, docks and military shelters hidden in some cities in the UAE,” said a spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The UAE Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to Iran’s accusation that the attack on Kharg Island took place through the country.
Nine ballistic missiles and 33 drones were launched from Iran toward the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, the Defense Ministry said.
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Iran warned residents to leave areas near the port of Jebel Ali in Dubai, the port of Khalifa in Abu Dhabi and the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, and said it was targeting branches of US banks in the Persian Gulf.
Fujairah, outside the Strait of Hormuz, is the outlet for about 1 million barrels per day of the United Arab Emirates’ Murban crude — a volume equivalent to about 1% of global demand.
Trump said on Saturday that many countries would be sending warships along with the United States to open the Strait of Hormuz. He did not provide details on which countries would do this, but in his Truth Social post he said he expected China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and others to send ships to the area.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who replaced his slain father, said the strategic waterway must remain closed as a pressure tool.
US Central Command said on Saturday that its forces struck more than 90 Iranian military targets on Kharg Island, destroying sites such as naval mine storage facilities and missile storage bunkers.
Behind the scenes, resentment was already growing in the Arab capitals of the Persian Gulf at being drawn into a war they neither started nor endorsed, but are now paying for economically and militarily, regional sources told Reuters.
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Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said in a post on Saturday: ‘The Iranian strategy, which reflects its inability to confront US and Israeli attacks targeting the Gulf Arab states, reveals military impotence, moral bankruptcy and political isolation.’
