U.A.E. reports drone strike at nuclear power plant as Iran war deadlock endures
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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 U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and restart shipping in the Gulf.
Emirati officials did not attribute blame for the attack and there were no immediate claims of responsibility. The U.A.E. 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 and operations were unaffected and there were no injuries, it said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was following the situation closely.
During the war that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, Iran has repeatedly targeted the U.A.E. and other Gulf states that host U.S. military bases, hitting sites that include civilian and energy infrastructure.
Iran stepped up such attacks on the U.A.E. earlier this month after U.S. 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, U.S. 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 program and lift its hold on the strait. Iran has demanded compensation for war damage, an end to a U.S. 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.
More than 10 weeks into the war and without a clear end in sight, U.S. President Donald Trump says the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is on ‘massive life support.’ Andrew Chang explains why the U.S. strategy to end the conflict — which Trump initially said wouldn’t last more than a month — is falling short.
(Photo credits: The Canadian Press, Reuters, Adobe Stock and Getty Images)
A senior spokesperson for the Iranian armed forces, Abolfazl Shekarchi, said on Sunday that if Trump’s threats were carried out, the U.S. would “face new, aggressive, and surprise scenarios, and sink into a self-made quagmire.”
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said the U.S. 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 U.S. has imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports.
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 U.S. 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.
