Just hours after denouncing US President Donald Trump’s new Hormuz campaign ‘Project Freedom,’ the Middle East teetered on the edge of a renewed regional conflagration on Monday as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) intercepted a volley of ballistic missiles over Dubai.
Loud explosions were heard in the Ajman region of the Kingdom, as well as in Dubai, as the missile defence systems activated to intercept the Iranian drones. The booms were heard shortly after the UAE said Iran struck an ADNOC-linked tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. Residents in the UAE were alerted to take cover.
The UAE authorities issued a mobile phone alert, warning of a missile attack prior to intercepting the drones. “Due to the current situation, potential missile threats, immediately seek a safe place in the closest secure building,” the message read. It added that the situation was “now safe” and that the residents could continue normal activities while taking “necessary precautions.”
The Ministry of Defence in Abu Dhabi also confirmed early Monday that its air defence systems successfully neutralised three ballistic missiles targeting civilian infrastructure.
The interceptions occurred in the early morning hours, lighting up the sky over Dubai and forcing thousands of residents and tourists into basement shelters and metro stations.
“The UAE air defence forces and the Unified Arab Command intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles launched by regional militias toward our territories,” the Ministry of Defence in Abu Dhabi stated in an official communique. The agency added that while there were no casualties, debris fell in unpopulated areas, and the nation remains at its highest state of alert.
Residents across Dubai reported hearing massive explosions as the interceptors met their targets. Euronews reported that several major airlines temporarily diverted flights away from Dubai International Airport (DXB) as a precautionary measure.
“We were told to move away from the windows and stay in the corridors,” one resident told the broadcaster during the height of the alert. “The sound was unlike anything we’ve heard since the conflict began in February; it felt like the sky was breaking.”
Is Tehran Responding to Trump’s ‘Project Freedom?’
Tehran formally accused the US of collapsing a fragile ceasefire by launching ‘Operation Freedom’ to escort the naval vessels through the vital waterway of Hormuz. The dual escalations come hours after US President Donald Trump and CENTCOM announced the massive naval operation to help the stranded commercial shipping transit through what Trump called an Iranian blockade.
As sirens echoed through the UAE’s commercial hubs, global markets reacted with immediate volatility, fearing that the naval mission intended to clear the waterway had instead acted as a catalyst for a broader aerial war.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry declared that the US Navy’s entry into contested waters under the “Project Freedom” banner constitutes a “flagrant violation” of the standing truce agreement agreed in Pakistan earlier. Tehran’s envoy to the United Nations warned that any American attempt to seize or “escort” vessels within what it considers its maritime boundaries would be met with an immediate kinetic response.
“The presence of foreign forces under the guise of ‘freedom of navigation’ is a provocative act of war that renders the current truce null and void,” the Iranian Ministry said in a televised statement to an outlet.
Analysts are suggesting that the missile fire in the UAE may be a direct retaliation for the commencement of the US escort mission as guided-missile destroyers began moving commercial tankers out of the Hormuz “dead zone.”
