UAE Secretly Attacked Iran’s Lavan Island Refinery, Triggering Missile and Drone Strikes on UAE and Kuwait

The United Arab Emirates was reported to have secretly carried out attacks on Iran, including a strike on a refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in early April that caused a large fire and knocked the facility offline, according to anonymous sources cited by The Wall Street Journal.

Anadolu Ajansı said Iran retaliated by launching ballistic missiles and drones at the UAE and Kuwait, and it added that one source told the Journal the US quietly welcomed the Emirates' entry into the war.

ABC News

The Jerusalem Post similarly said the UAE was behind strikes on Iranian assets such as the attacks on Lavan Island's refinery at the beginning of April, describing them as a response to Iran targeting Emirati civilian and energy infrastructures.

The Telegraph reported that the UAE’s armed forces reportedly attacked an oil refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in the Gulf at the start of April, and it linked the timing to “around the time” Donald Trump announced a ceasefire in the war after a five-week military campaign.

Al Jazeera reported that Iranian authorities have increasingly singled out the UAE in their war messaging, with Ali Khezrian telling state television that “Our label of ‘neighbours’ with the Emirates has for now been lifted, and the label of ‘hostile base’ has been set for the country.”

In the same Al Jazeera account, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters warned Emirati leaders against turning the country into “the den of Americans and Zionists and their military forces and equipment to betray the world of Islam and Muslims”.

Akhir al-Khabar

NPR reported that Kuwait accused Iran of launching a failed attack earlier this month on Bubiyan Island, where China is helping to build a port, and it said Kuwait detained four men while two escaped when its forces disrupted the attack.

The Guardian added that Kuwait said at least four members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been captured trying to carry out “terrorist attacks” on the Kuwaiti-owned Bubiyan Island, and it linked the UAE assault on Iran to retaliation for Iranian attacks on its facilities.

The Guardian said the risk of Gulf states becoming embroiled in a direct war with Iran has risen after it was reported the UAE had secretly launched a major attack on Iran during the conflict, and it noted that Donald Trump said the ceasefire was hanging by a thread due to Iran’s failure to make the concessions he is seeking over its nuclear programme.

DW reported that the Pentagon said the cost of the war on Iran has risen to about $29 billion and that ammunition has not been exhausted, with the new figure disclosed during a budget hearing on Capitol Hill.

DW also described Kuwait summoning Iran’s ambassador and handing him a protest note after an armed group of IRGC elements infiltrated Bubiyan Island and clashed with Kuwaiti armed forces, while Iranian Foreign Ministry later rejected Kuwait’s accusations that Tehran planned “hostile acts.”

In the Guardian’s account of the broader fallout, it said the UAE had been selected as a target for missile and drone strikes by Iran in earlier fighting that began on 28 February, and it reported that the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said Israel had sent Iron Dome batteries and personnel to improve UAE defences.