Illustrative image. (U.S. Air Force photo by Lawrence Crespo)
The United Arab Emirates launched dozens of strikes in Iran in the first days of the American-Israeli war on Iran, and even after the ceasefire was announced, the Wall Street Journal reported on May 29.
Sources familiar with the matter told the news outlet that the United States and Israel both provided intelligence on the Emirate strikes, which targeted Qeshm and Abu Musa islands in the Strait of Hormuz, the port city of Bandar Abbas, Lavan Island’s oil refinery, and the Asaluyeh petrochemical complex.
Attacks on Iranian energy facilities came in retaliation for the Islamic Republic’s attacks on the UAE’s facilities, according to the report.
The sources also revealed the extent of the Emirati response further strained tensions among Gulf countries, with Saudi Arabia pressuring the U.S. to have the UAE halt the strikes and instead join diplomatic efforts, concerned about attacks on regional oil sites and the resulting global economic fallout.
Between February 28 and April 8, when the ceasefire took effect, Iran fired some 550 ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as more than 2,200 drones at the UAE.
Several previous reports confirmed that the UAE also targeted Iran during the war, but the Wall Street Journal report revealed a much larger role.
Of course, there has already been open source evidence of Emirate strikes. Several Wing Loong II combat drones, made in China by Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, were shot down by Iranian defenses around April 2. Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE operate this type of drones, but reports indicate that they were sent into Iran by the latter.
And when Emirate strikes hit a major Iranian petrochemical site on Lavan Island few hours after the ceasefire between the Islamic Republic and the U.S. entered into effect, a photo purported to show a Mirage-2000-9 of the UAE Air Force flying near the island surfaced online.
More recently, the remains of several Emirate-made Yabhon-type drones that can be used for one-way attacks were found by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan — located right across the Strait of Hormuz from the UAE.
Tensions between Iran and the UAE reached an unprecedented level earlier this month, with the Islamic Republic renewing strikes on the Gulf state following a series of reports exposing the secret deployment of Israeli forces there and wartime visits by senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
All recent reports on the UAE role in the war may be a part of some attempt to shift Iran’s focus more towards the UAE, away from Israel.
And while immense diplomatic efforts to bring the war to a permanent end are now underway, there is still no notable progress and fighting could resume. The UAE could find itself at the eye of the storm.
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the quisling whore sheikhdoms will revert back to empty desert.