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A drone strike caused a fire at a nuclear power plant in the UAE, officials there said yesterday.
Emirati officials said they were investigating the source of the strike and that the UAE had the full right to respond to such ‘terrorist attacks’. A diplomatic adviser to the UAE president said it represented a dangerous escalation, whether carried out by ‘the principal perpetrator’ or one of its proxies. The UAE defence ministry said two other drones had been ‘successfully’ dealt with, and that the drones had been launched from the ‘western border’. It did not elaborate.
The drone that got through hit an electrical generator outside the inner perimeter of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, the Abu Dhabi Media Office said. Radiological safety levels were unaffected and there were no injuries, it said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said emergency diesel generators were providing power to the plant’s ‘unit 3’, and called for ‘maximum military restraint’ near any nuclear power plant, adding that it was following the situation closely.
Saudi Arabia yesterday strongly condemned the drone attack on the UAE. In a statement, the foreign ministry said the kingdom firmly rejects the ‘blatant attacks’, which it said ‘threaten the region’s security and stability’.
The ministry also reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s solidarity with the UAE and its support for ‘all measures it takes to safeguard its sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity’.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan later received a phone call from UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed, during which the two sides reviewed safety measures following the attack, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The UAE’s foreign ministry separately condemned the strike, describing it as a ‘dangerous escalation’. “The UAE emphasised that it will not tolerate any threat to its security and sovereignty under any circumstances,” the ministry statement said.
Later yesterday, UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said the targeting of the Barakah plant represented ‘a dark development that violates all international laws and norms, reflecting criminal disregard for the lives of civilians in the UAE and its surroundings’.
“No one will twist the UAE’s arm, nor succeed in undermining its vision, success, and inspiring message to the peoples of the region centred on security, stability, development and prosperity,” he added.
During the war that began with US and Israeli strikes against Iran on February 28, Iran has repeatedly targeted the UAE and other Gulf states, hitting sites that include civilian and energy infrastructure.
Iran stepped up such attacks on the UAE earlier this month after US President Donald Trump announced a naval mission to try to open the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump suspended after 48 hours.
More than five weeks after a tenuous ceasefire in the conflict took effect, US and Iranian demands remain far apart despite diplomatic efforts to end the war and reopen the strait, the world’s most important shipping route for oil and gas.
Washington has called for Tehran to dismantle its nuclear programme and lift its hold on the strait. Iran has demanded compensation for war damage, an end to a US blockade of Iranian ports and a halt to fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel is battling Iran-backed Hizbollah.
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