Iranian missiles continue to hit infrastructure in Gulf countries

Gulf states reported further damage to infrastructure over the weekend as Iran continued to attack regional allies in retaliation for ongoing attacks by US and Israeli forces.

The United Arab Emirates said it was “countering incoming missile and drone threats from Iran”.

“UAE air defense is currently responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran,” the country’s defense ministry said in a post on X.

It said its defenses are intercepting ballistic missiles while fighter jets are handling drones and handling munitions.

On Saturday evening, alarms went off across Dubai and Abu Dhabi, warning residents to “seek immediate safety” due to missile threats, and a team from CNBC confirmed hearing a large explosion.

A high-rise building at 23 Marina in Dubai’s Marina area was hit by falling debris. According to Dubai’s media office, no one was injured, but officials confirmed that “debris from an aerial interceptor fell on a vehicle in the Al Barsha area, killing the Pakistani driver”.

Also on Saturday, passengers waiting for flights at Dubai International Airport were herded into train tunnels. Iran says it has attacked an airbase in the UAE.

Since the war began on February 28, Iran has targeted several radar and air defenses in the Middle East – in Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia – in retaliation against US and Israeli attacks, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Bahrain said a drone strike hit a water desalination plant on Sunday.

“The Iranian occupation indiscriminately attacked civilian targets and caused material damage to a water desalination plant following a drone attack,” Bahrain’s interior ministry said in a post on X.

A “blatant Iranian aggression” damaged a university building in the Muharraq area as fragments of a missile fell, the country said, injuring three people.

Elsewhere, Kuwait said two fuel depots at its international airport were hit by drones, “one of which caused a major fire.”

The country’s public agency for social security targeted its headquarters, resulting in “material damage” to the building.

Meanwhile, Israeli and US attacks on Iran continued into the weekend.

Israel said it hit several fuel storage complexes belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“The strike will significantly increase the damage to the Iranian terrorist regime’s military infrastructure,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a post on X early Sunday.

The war’s opening salvos led to the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last week.

Two influential Iranian clerics have called for the early election of a new supreme leader, Iranian state media reported on Saturday.

One of the clerics, Nasser Makarem Shirazi, a grand ayatollah with a wide following for his religious rulings, said the appointment was urgently needed to “help better organize the country’s affairs”, state media reported.

The calls suggest that at least some in the clerical establishment are uncomfortable with keeping a three-man council in charge — even temporarily under constitutional terms — after the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The IDF said on Sunday it would “pursue every successor and every person who wants to appoint a successor”.

“We warn all those who intend to participate in the successor selection meeting that we will not hesitate to target you. This is a warning!,” the IDF said in a post on Farsi on X.

Trump has argued that America should have a role in choosing a new leader, a demand Iran has rejected.