The United Arab Emirates carried out attacks on Iran early last month, sources told the Wall Street Journalrevealing the Gulf country’s hitherto unknown involvement in the war.
Also read: Updates on the Iran-Israel war
In an article on Monday (May 11, 2026), the US newspaper said the UAE attacks targeted a refinery located on Iran’s Lavan Island and took place “around the time” US President Donald Trump was “announcing a ceasefire in the war” after a five-week airstrike campaign.
The United States has quietly welcomed the attacks from the Emirates and any other Gulf state that wants to join the fight, the newspaper reported, citing an anonymous source.
AFP has not been able to independently verify the reported Emirati attacks. El Diario did not specify the date or time.
However, on the morning of April 8, the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said: “The missile and drone attacks against the Emirates and Kuwait took place a few hours after the attack on the Lavan Island oil facilities in Iran.”
The state broadcaster claimed that the Lavan facility “came under a cowardly attack” at 10:00 a.m. (06:30 GMT). On the same day, just hours after the ceasefire came into effect, the United Arab Emirates said it had been attacked by 17 Iranian missiles and 35 drones.
That same morning, Kuwait’s military said it faced a barrage of attacks on power and desalination plants as well as oil facilities, an early test of the fragile truce.
The refinery was Iran’s 10th largest refinery in 2020, handling 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day, according to EIA figures.
Published – May 12, 2026 10:52 am IST
