UAE reports drone strike at nuclear power plant

DUBAI: A drone strike caused a fire at a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates, officials in Abu Dhabi said on Sunday, at a time when progress appears to have stalled in efforts to end the US-Israeli war with Iran and restart shipping in the Gulf.

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”. The UAE has previously accused Iran of attacking its energy targets in what it has called an escalation of the conflict in the region.

The drone 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.

READ MORE: Iran military ‘categorically’ denies launching attacks on UAE

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.

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.

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 that host US military bases, 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.

Diplomatic deadlock

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 Hezbollah.

Trump, who held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week without securing an indication from China that it would help resolve the conflict, has threatened to resume attacks if Iran does not agree to a deal.

A senior spokesperson for the Iranian armed forces, Abolfazl Shekarchi, said on Sunday that if Trump’s threats were carried out, the US would “face new, aggressive, and surprise scenarios, and sink into a self-made quagmire”.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said the US and Israel had tried to shift the blame for destabilizing energy markets following their “unprovoked military aggression against Iran”.

Rival blockades

The disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has caused the biggest oil supply crisis in history, pushing up prices. The US has imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports, and said that as of Sunday it had redirected 81 commercial vessels and disabled four vessels to ensure compliance.

Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, said on Saturday that Tehran had prepared a mechanism to manage traffic through the strait along a designated route that would be unveiled soon.

Thousands of Iranians were killed in the US and Israeli airstrikes. Thousands more have been killed in Lebanon in fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

Israel and Lebanon agreed on Friday to a 45-day extension of a ceasefire there, though the truce has failed to end clashes.