UAE intercepts Iranian drone over its waters in ‘dangerous escalation’ from Iran war—and threatens responding ‘decisively to aggressors’

The United Arab Emirates said that it intercepted an Iranian drone over its waters Monday, an attack that comes after the United States and Iran exchanged fire over the weekend for the first time in a month.

Iranian officials said that two people were killed and several others wounded in the U.S. attack Sunday night on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran responded by launching missiles at U.S. sites in Jordan, which were intercepted.

During the lull in fighting, the U.S. has been ratcheting up economic pressure on Iran with the hope of forcing concessions out of Tehran, including reopening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.

After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb.

28 , Iran established a chokehold on the vital strait, though which a fifth of the world’s traded oil passed in peacetime, slowing ship traffic to a trickle.

That has roiled the global economy, raising prices worldwide for energy and other goods.

As the fighting resumed, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed above $90 , up about 25% from the start of the war, presenting a growing problem for U.S.

President Donald Trump before the midterm elections.

A return to open conflict would be dangerous for the region, where Iran has targeted U.S. military bases and infrastructure in Gulf countries since the war began.

In the wake of the renewed violence, Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the UAE’s president, said on social media said “the state of neither war nor peace cannot be a sustainable solution.” He called for a political solution that would return normal navigation to the Strait of Hormuz, but also a “more realistic approach” than the June memo of understanding between Iran and the U.S. which, he said, “failed to outline a practical and acceptable” road map.

UAE says Iranian attack is a ‘dangerous escalation’ In a short statement earlier, the UAE Defense Ministry said that it “dealt with” an Iranian drone that was detected over its waters approaching from Iran.

There were no reports of damage.

“This dangerous escalation constitutes a blatant violation of the UAE’s sovereignty, security, and stability, and a direct threat to the safety of its citizens and residents,” the Foreign Ministry said.