Iranian state TV reported that Iran’s army attacked the United Arab Emirates’ Al Minhad Air Base with drones early Monday, targeting locations where U.S. forces and helicopters were stationed. The UAE denied reports that the base itself had been struck.
Al Minhad Air Base is a military installation in the United Arab Emirates located approximately 15 miles south of Dubai and is operated by the United Arab Emirates Air Force. It serves as an important logistics and transport hub for international military partners, including the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
The army said the strike was in response to the killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel and Iranian civilians on Larak Island.
The UAE’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that it had intercepted an Iranian drone over the UAE’s territorial waters. The ministry called reports that the base itself was struck by missiles false and said the country’s armed forces remain on a high state of readiness to respond to any threats and safeguard the UAE’s sovereignty, security and stability.
Iran struck a U.S.-linked base in the Gulf before during the current conflict, which began in June 2025. On June 23, 2025, Iran launched ballistic missiles directly at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, in retaliation for U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. U.S. and Qatari air defenses defeated the attack, and there were no casualties, though satellite imagery later showed that at least one Iranian missile struck and destroyed a communications radome on the base.
On February 3, 2026, a U.S. Navy F-35C shot down an Iranian Shahed-139 drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln aggressively. The drone was destroyed before it reached the ship.
In May 2026, Iranian forces attacked three U.S. Navy destroyers, the USS Truxtun, the USS Rafael Peralta and the USS Mason, with missiles, drones and small boats. U.S. officials said none of the three vessels were hit, though Iran claimed the attack caused significant damage.
