Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman's Musandam administrative region, in the context of the conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran, in the United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (Credit: Reuters)
The Iranian army warned Saturday it would target the United Arab Emirates if attacks are launched from its territory against Gulf islands controlled by Iran but claimed by the UAE.
“We warn the United Arab Emirates that if further aggression is launched from its territory against the Iranian islands of Abu Musa and Greater Tunb in the Persian Gulf, the powerful Iranian armed forces will subject Ras al-Khaimah, in the UAE, to heavy strikes,” the army’s operational command, Khatam al-Anbiya, said in a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency.
The islands of Abu Musa and Lesser and Greater Tunb, located in the Gulf near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil transits, have long been a source of tension between Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran accuses its Gulf neighbors of allowing U.S. forces to launch attacks against it from their territories. Since the start of the war on Feb. 28, it has launched numerous missile and drone strikes, which it says have targeted U.S. interests in those countries.
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