Tehran claims US attacked it from UAE as war enters its third week

Plumes of smoke and fire rise after debris from an intercepted Iranian drone struck an oil facility, according to authorities, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates (Altaf Qadri/AP)

Iran said the US used “ports, docks and hideouts” in the UAE to launch strikes on Kharg Island, home to the main terminal handling Iran’s oil exports.

Without providing evidence, Tehran urged people to leave areas where it said US forces were sheltering, including Dubai’s Jebel Ali port — the Middle East’s busiest — and the Khalifa port in Abu Dhabi.

Debris from an intercepted Iranian drone hit an oil facility, sparking a fire at a third port mentioned in the warning, in Fujairah.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told MS NOW that the US attacked Kharg Island and Abu Musa Island from two locations in the UAE, Ras Al-Khaimah and a place “very close to Dubai”, calling that dangerous and saying Iran “will try to be careful not to attack any populated area” there.

Mr Araghchi called on social media for neighbouring countries to “expel foreign aggressors”.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Arab Gulf neighbours during the war, but it said it was targeting US assets, even as hits or attempts were reported on civilian ones such as airports and oil fields.

US Central Command said it had no response to Iran’s claim, while a diplomatic adviser to the UAE’s president, Anwar Gargash, said on social media the country has the right to defend itself but “still prioritises reason and logic, and continues exercising restraint”.

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said the Kharg Island strikes caused no damage to oil infrastructure. It said they targeted an air defence facility, a naval base, the airport control tower and an offshore oil company’s helicopter hangar.

US Central Command said it destroyed naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers and other military sites.

Rescue workers inspect an apartment damaged in an Israeli airstrike as thick smoke fills the building in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon (Mohammad Zaatari/AP)

US President Donald Trump said US forces had “obliterated” military targets on a Kharg Island and warned its oil infrastructure could be next if Tehran continues to interfere with the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Israel earlier announced another wave of strikes in Iran targeting infrastructure, and said its air force had hit more than 200 targets in the past 24 hours, including missile launchers, defence systems and weapons production sites.

On Saturday, Iran’s joint military command reiterated its threat to attack US-linked “oil, economic and energy infrastructures” in the region if the Islamic Republic’s oil infrastructure is hit.

Israel’s military said early on Sunday that Iran launched another round of missiles toward Israel. Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and loud booms were heard.

At least 15 people were killed in a strike in the Iranian city of Isfahan, according to the semi-official Iranian news outlets Fars and SNN. Israel’s military said it had not targeted the area and the US military declined to comment.