Iran claims drone attack on UAE base as US strikes on Larak Island

Iran’s army said it attacked the United Arab Emirates’ Al Minhad Air Base with drones early on Monday, Iranian state television reported, as hostilities intensified following U.S. strikes on Iran’s Larak Island. The army said the attack targeted locations where U.S. forces and helicopters were stationed at the base and was carried out in response to the killing of members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Iranian civilians on Larak. There was no immediate comment from the UAE on Iran’s claim, and the UAE defence ministry had not issued a statement. The reported attack followed an earlier Iranian assault on two U.S. bases in Jordan, also in retaliation for the strikes on Larak, according to Iranian media. U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said on Sunday that Iran’s energy hub of Kharg Island was “being blown to smithereens”, making the claim in a one-line social media post accompanied by an AI-generated video clip. There was no independent evidence that the island was under attack. The White House and the U.S. Defense Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside regular business hours, while Iranian media carried no immediate response to Trump’s post. “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT,” Trump wrote, without providing further details. Reuters determined that the accompanying video, which showed dramatic explosions, was most likely synthetically generated, based on analysis using software designed to detect AI-manipulated imagery. An attack on Kharg, which handled about 90 per cent of Iran’s oil exports before the war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on February 28, would severely disrupt the country’s energy trade and place further pressure on its economy. FIRST KNOWN U.S. STRIKES IN WEEKS A U.S. official said American forces had attacked two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island, the first known U.S. military strikes since late July. The small island lies in the Strait of Hormuz, near the strategic port of Bandar Abbas and about 660 km (410 miles) east of Kharg. Its position overlooking shipping lanes at the entrance to the Gulf gives it an important role in tensions surrounding Iran, maritime security and global energy supplies. “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz,” the U.S. official said. In a statement, U.S. Central Command said it had taken “limited, precise” action against Revolutionary Guards minelaying forces that posed an “imminent threat” in the Strait of Hormuz. It provided no further details. Iran subsequently launched ballistic missiles towards Jordan, targeting two U.S. bases, Iranian media said. Jordan’s armed forces intercepted eight missiles that entered its airspace, state television reported. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed the attack killed or wounded several soldiers and civilians and vowed that further “response and punishment” would come from Tehran, according to Iranian state media. A Fox News reporter, citing a U.S. source, said nearly all the incoming missiles had been intercepted and there appeared to have been no significant impact. SANCTIONS PRESSURE INTENSIFIES The renewed military action followed weeks in which the Trump administration had stepped up efforts to punish Tehran and its business partners through costly economic sanctions. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters on Sunday that new secondary sanctions were likely to be announced weekly, initially targeting banks. “We’re starting with the banks, and we’re telling the banks it’s not okay to have Iranian money and to aid the regime,” Bessent said in an interview. After imposing penalties on the UAE branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr on Friday over alleged financial links to Iran, Bessent said Washington’s next step could be to cut an institution off entirely from the dollar-based financial system. “You’re going to see a lot more of these every week,” he said ahead of a meeting of Group of 20 finance leaders. HORMUZ SHIPPING FALLS SHARPLY Amid continuing threats to shipping, the number of visible commodity vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz fell to five a day over the weekend, shipping data showed. The actual number may have been higher because some vessels had switched off their automatic identification systems to reduce the risk of attack. Trump said last week that all mines had been detonated or removed from the strait’s international waters and that Iran had been warned that any vessel laying new mines would be destroyed. Although Trump has repeatedly said the Strait of Hormuz is open, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy has described those statements as “an obvious lie” and maintained that the waterway remains closed to ships without Iranian permission. The strait carried nearly a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before it was blockaded during the six-month-old Iran war. Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.