The United Arab Emirates carried out attacks on Iran early last month, sources told the Wall Street Journal, revealing previously unknown participation in the war by the Gulf country.
Also Read: Iran-Israel war updates
In an article Monday (May 11, 2026), the American newspaper said the UAE’s attacks targeted a refinery located on Iran’s Lavan Island and took place “around the time” U.S. President Donald Trump was “announcing a cease-fire in the war” after a five-week air strike campaign.
The U.S. has quietly welcomed the Emirati strikes and any other Gulf states that want to join the fight, the paper reported, citing one unnamed source.
AFP has not been able to independently verify the reported Emirati attacks. The Journal did not specify a date or time.
However, the morning of April 8, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said: “missile and drone attacks on the Emirates and Kuwait have taken place a few hours after the targeting of Lavan island oil facilities in Iran.”
The state broadcaster said the Lavan facility “was subjected to a cowardly attack” at 10:00 a.m. (0630 GMT). On the same day, just hours after the ceasefire came into effect, the UAE said that it had been targeted by 17 Iranian missiles and 35 drones.
That same morning, Kuwait’s military said that it was facing a barrage of attacks on power and desalination plants as well as oil facilities — an early test of the fragile truce.
The refinery was Iran’s 10th biggest refinery as of 2020, handling 60,000 barrels of crude per day, according to EIA figures.
Published – May 12, 2026 10:52 am IST
