Drone Strike Sparks Fire Near U.A.E. Nuclear Plant
The Gulf state didn’t say who launched the attack, which highlighted the risks of the war with Iran
- A drone strike caused a fire near the United Arab Emirates’ Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, with radiation levels remaining normal.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency expressed grave concern about the incident and called for military restraint.
- The attack occurred amid President Trump’s threats of military action against Iran if a peace deal is not reached.
A drone strike set off a fire near the United Arab Emirates’ nuclear-power station, authorities in the Persian Gulf state said, a sign of the growing risks as the Iran war drags on.
The U.A.E. didn’t say who launched the drone but said the strike caused a fire at an electrical generator outside the inner perimeter of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant about 175 miles west of the capital, Abu Dhabi.
Radiation levels were normal, and the nuclear station—where four reactors supply 25% of the Emirates’ power needs—continued to operate, the Abu Dhabi media office said. The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said one of the reactors was on emergency diesel-generator power following the strike.
The agency’s director, Rafael Grossi, expressed grave concern about the incident and called for maximum military restraint around nuclear plants.
The attack comes amid fresh threats by President Trump to take military action if Iran doesn’t agree to a peace deal.
Diplomats continue to work on a deal, with Iranian media saying Tehran had recently received a new U.S. proposal for ending the conflict and had given its reaction to Pakistan, a key mediator in the conflict. There was no immediate response from the White House on the Iranian media reports.
The two sides are far apart on issues like Iran’s nuclear program and the extent to which it should have any control over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said a week ago that Iran’s previous response had been “totally unacceptable.”
Iranian state media listed the nuclear plant among Iran’s targets for retaliation after Trump threatened in late March to obliterate the country’s power plants starting with the biggest one if Tehran didn’t lift its chokehold on the strait.
Trump hasn’t carried out the threat, and Iran continues to bottle up the strategic waterway. Iran, however, has continued to target the U.A.E. and has sharpened its threats after the Gulf state said it would strengthen its security ties with the U.S. and Israel to counter the threat from Iran.
The U.S. and Israel carried out widespread strikes on Iranian nuclear sites since last June, including in this year’s fighting, although none of them caused any kind of radioactive fallout. The strikes included attacks very close to Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor.
Iran, backed by Russia, has repeatedly called for international condemnation of strikes on nuclear facilities.
The U.A.E. has carried out military strikes on Iran since early in the war, hitting targets including a crude-oil refinery on Lavan Island in early April, in coordination with the U.S. and Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier.
The Barakah plant was built under a 2009 agreement with the U.S. that allowed the transfer of peaceful nuclear technology in exchange for U.A.E. agreements to allow inspections and import its fuel rather than enrich or reprocess uranium domestically.