The United Arab Emirates said that two ballistic missiles were fired toward the country from Iran, the Islamic Republic’s first known attack on the Gulf nation since May as the wider Middle East war continues unabated. 

Both missiles fell into the sea, with one of them dropping within the UAE’s territorial waters and the other outside, the country’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday. Assessments indicated the projectiles were meant to target maritime traffic, the ministry added later.

All trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran have been halted until further notice, in light of “regional escalations that undermine regional and international peace and security,” according to a statement by the UAE’s Foreign Ministry.

Iran denied firing missiles at the UAE. Its Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Telegram that all regional parties should refrain from making “baseless accusations.”

Residents in Dubai received Tuesday a missile threat alert as the UAE said its air defense systems were dealing with incoming missiles. The Interior Ministry declared the situation “safe” shortly afterward. This came after Tehran’s recent strikes against UAE-linked ships in the Strait of Hormuz.  

The last time the UAE Defense Ministry confirmed being attacked by Iran was in May, when Tehran carried out several strikes on the country.

Early in May, Iran fired 15 missiles and four drones on the UAE, which said later in the month that a drone targeting a nuclear power plant on its soil was launched from Iraq, where Iranian-backed militias are located.

Two Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. vessels were struck while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday and another was hit Friday evening, according to the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency. 

A fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas used to pass through the waterway before the ongoing Iran war, which broke out when the US and Israel carried out airstrikes on the country on Feb. 28. 

Traffic through Hormuz has been dramatically reduced over the past months, with Iran targeting tankers and commercial vessels. International diplomatic efforts have so far failed to defuse tensions and end a stalemate between Tehran and Washington. 

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Published on August 19, 2026