Dubai airport forced to close overnight after Iranian drone hits fuel tank

Dubai was forced to temporarily close its airport overnight after an Iranian drone hit a fuel tank in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

As morning broke on Monday, a drone hit a fuel tank near Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international passenger traffic, causing a large fire.

Firefighters were able to contain the blaze and there were no injuries reported but the airport temporarily suspended all flights before resuming them a few hours later.

Later, a person was killed in the capital when an Iranian missile hit a vehicle, the Abu Dhabi media office said. Fire also broke out at an oil facility in Fujairah, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, following a drone attack.

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Since being attacked by the United States and Israel more than two weeks ago, Iran has been regularly hitting Israel, American bases and its Gulf neighbours’ energy infrastructure with drones and missiles.

It has also effectively stopped shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported, giving rise to growing fears of a global energy crisis and putting pressure on Washington as consumers are already feeling pain at the pump.

Brent crude, the international standard, remained stubbornly over 100 dollars a barrel on Monday. It was at 104 dollars in early trading, up nearly 45% since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. It has spiked as high as about 120 dollars during the conflict.

US President Donald Trump said he has made demands to about seven countries to send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, but his appeals have brought no commitments. His party is increasingly concerned that rising prices for American consumers will hurt the Republicans in elections this autumn.

“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their own territory,” Mr Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington DC from Florida on Air Force One. He did not identify the countries, but has previously appealed to China, France, Japan, South Korea and the UK.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi called claims that his country may be seeking a negotiated end to the war “delusional”, saying in a social media post early on Monday that his country was seeking neither “truce nor talks”.

US President Donald Trump speaking to reporters on Air Force One (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) PA Media

“Our powerful armed forces will keep firing until Potus realises that illegal war he’s imposing on both Americans and Iranians is wrong and must never be repeated,” he wrote on X.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones towards Gulf countries hosting US military assets since the war began. Emirati authorities say most have been intercepted by air defences, though debris and some drones have fallen inside the country.

Iranian officials have recently accused the UAE of allowing its territory to be used for attacks against Iran. Emirati officials have rejected the allegations as misleading and said the country’s actions have been defensive.

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, said it had intercepted a wave of 35 Iranian drones sent at its eastern region, home to major oil installations.

Officials in the UAE say the country’s actions have been defensive (AP Photo) PA Media

Israel’s military said early on Monday that Iran launched missiles towards Israel as well.

Israel’s military says Iran is firing cluster bombs that can evade some air defences and scatter submunitions across multiple locations.

Explosions echoed across Beirut early on Monday as Israel struck the Lebanese capital and launched a new wave of attacks on Tehran.

Massive explosions were heard in Beirut as Israel launched new attacks on the Lebanese capital before dawn, saying it was striking infrastructure related to the Iran-linked Hezbollah militia group.

The Israeli army has issued evacuation orders for many neighbourhoods in Beirut as well as southern Lebanon. To date, more than 800,000 people have been displaced by Israel’s campaign in Lebanon.

At least 850 people have been killed by Israeli strikes so far, including 107 children and 66 women.

Not long after Israel’s military announced it had launched new strikes on Tehran targeting infrastructure, explosions were heard in the Iranian capital and outlying areas.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran so far, according to the Red Cross.

A building damaged in an Israeli air strike, in Beirut (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein) PA Media

In Israel, 12 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire and more have been injured, including three on Sunday. At least 13 US military members have been killed, six in a plane crash in Iraq last week.

On Air Force One, Mr Trump would not say which countries could be part of the coalition he wants to police the Strait of Hormuz to provide security for oil tankers and other commercial ships passing through.

But he said he will not forget the countries that decline to help. He named Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who he said initially declined to put British aircraft carriers “into harm’s way”.

“Whether we get support or not, but I can say this, and I said to them: We will remember,” Mr Trump said.

Before a meeting in Brussels, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc’s foreign ministers would discuss possibly extending its Aspides naval mission, which protects ships in the Red Sea, to the Strait of Hormuz, without giving any details on how such a mission would work or how long it would take to decide on it.

A cargo ship sailing towards the Strait of Hormuz (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) PA Media

Europeans have been critical of the US and Israel for failing to provide clarity on their objectives in the war, and German foreign minister Johann Wadephul on Sunday questioned EU involvement, saying security for the Strait of Hormuz can only come “if there is a negotiated solution”.

“Europe always gives constructive support when it comes to securing sea routes, but I see neither an immediate necessity nor above all Germany participating,” he said on television.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told the country’s parliament on Monday that her government “has not heard anything” from Washington about Mr Trump’s call for help protecting the Strait of Hormuz.

Japan imports more than 90% of its crude oil from the Middle East, however, and she said there had been discussions about what could be done to protect Japanese ships “regardless of a US request”.

Japan on Monday began releasing its oil reserves to address concerns about supply shortages and rising prices.

Mr Trump has speculated that prices would fall, but would not directly answer whether his administration is talking about selling oil futures as a way to cap surging oil prices, something his interior secretary had mentioned as a possibility.

“The prices are going to come tumbling down as soon as it’s over. And it’s going to be over pretty quickly,” he told reporters.