By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

The Wall Street Journal reported that the UAE secretly carried out direct military strikes on Iran during the war.

Key Takeaways

• The UAE reportedly struck Iran’s Lavan Island refinery in early April, severely damaging its operations.
• The US quietly welcomed Emirati participation, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the WSJ.
• Iran responded by launching thousands of missiles and drones at the UAE, deepening the regional scope of the war.

The United Arab Emirates secretly carried out military strikes against Iran during the recent US-Israeli war, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, marking a major escalation that effectively transformed the Gulf monarchy into “an active combatant” in the conflict.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report said Emirati forces conducted attacks on Iranian targets, including a strike on a refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf in early April.

The attack reportedly coincided with the period when US President Donald Trump was publicly announcing a ceasefire after five weeks of war.

‘Enemy Attack’

“The strikes, which the U.A.E. hasn’t publicly acknowledged, have included an attack on a refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf,” the report stated.

According to the newspaper, the refinery strike “sparked a large fire and knocked much of its capacity off line for months.”

Iran later confirmed that the facility had been hit in what it described as an “enemy attack” and responded by launching “a barrage of missile and drone strikes against the U.A.E. and Kuwait.”

The report said Washington quietly supported Abu Dhabi’s participation in the war effort.

“The U.S. wasn’t upset by the attack, as the cease-fire hadn’t yet settled into place, and it has quietly welcomed the participation of the U.A.E. and any other Gulf states that want to join in the fight,” one source told the newspaper.

The UAE Foreign Ministry declined to comment directly on the allegations but referred to previous statements asserting the country’s “right to respond—including militarily—to hostile acts.”

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Fundamental Shift

The WSJ report portrayed the Emirati intervention as part of a broader shift in Gulf strategy following unprecedented Iranian retaliation against regional states during the war.

Iran reportedly launched “more than 2,800 missiles and drones” at the UAE, “far more than any other country, including Israel,” according to the report.

Those attacks severely disrupted the Emirati economy, including air traffic, tourism and the property market, while prompting “a wave of furloughs and layoffs.”

The Wall Street Journal said the attacks pushed Abu Dhabi toward a more confrontational posture toward Tehran.

“The attacks have … led to a fundamental shift in the country’s strategic outlook to one that now sees Iran as a rogue actor bent on undermining the country’s economic and social model,” Gulf officials told the newspaper.

Military analysts quoted in the report highlighted the UAE’s advanced capabilities and growing willingness to deploy them.

“It’s significant to have a Gulf Arab country as a warring party that struck Iran directly,” said Dina Esfandiary, a Middle East analyst and an author, cited by the paper.

Speculation about Emirati involvement had circulated since March, when unidentified fighter jets were reportedly seen operating over Iran.

Researchers cited by the newspaper pointed to images allegedly showing “French Mirage fighters and Chinese Wing Loong drones—both used by the U.A.E.—in action in Iran.”

The report noted that the UAE possesses “a highly trained and capable air force” equipped with French Mirage aircraft, advanced F-16 fighters, surveillance drones, aerial refueling planes and command-and-control systems.

“They are very strong in terms of precision strike, air defense, airborne surveillance, refueling, and logistics,” retired US Air Force Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula told the newspaper.

“If you have that capable of an air force, why would you sit back and absorb attacks from Iran without responding?” he added.

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Collaborating with Israel

The report also said the UAE supported draft UN resolutions authorizing the use of force to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and took measures against Iranian financial interests by restricting visas and shutting down Iranian-linked institutions in Dubai.

Meanwhile, Tehran has repeatedly accused the UAE of collaborating with Israel and the United States in the war effort.

The report comes amid growing indications that the war against Iran expanded far beyond direct US and Israeli aggression, drawing Gulf states deeper into the conflict despite earlier public claims of neutrality.

The US and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28, declaring that the objective was to eliminate Tehran’s nuclear capabilities, weaken its missile arsenal and undermining the Iranian government.

However, Iran responded with large-scale missile and drone attacks targeting Israeli, American and regional military and strategic infrastructure, fundamentally reshaping the regional balance and exposing the vulnerability of Gulf states heavily dependent on economic stability and international investment.

(WSJ, Iranian Media, PC)