April attack on Persian Gulf site only specific instance mentioned in report; US said to welcome Abu Dhabi’s involvement after other Gulf countries refused to join war effort
Illustrative: Two women from the Iranian Red Crescent Society stand as a thick plume of smoke from a US-Israeli strike on an oil storage facility late Saturday rises into the sky in Tehran, Iran on March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The United Arab Emirates carried out military strikes on Iran, making it the only other country to join the United States and Israel in their war against the Islamic Republic, according to a Monday report.
The strikes, which the UAE has not publicly acknowledged, included an attack on a refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The attack took place in early April, according to the report, which said it was around the time US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire, but did not specify if it was before or after the declaration.
Iran acknowledged at the time that the site had been attacked by an unspecified enemy, then responded by firing missiles and drones at the UAE and Kuwait, the Journal noted.
The Lavan Island attack was the only specific instance of the UAE participating in the war mentioned in the report.
One of the sources told the Journal that Washington positively received Abu Dhabi’s participation in the war, after other Gulf countries refused to actively join in the conflict.
An Emirates aircraft prepares for landing as a smoke plume rises from an ongoing fire near Dubai International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on March 16, 2026 (AFP)
The UAE’s Foreign Ministry declined the Journal’s request for comment on the reported strikes, but pointed to past declarations that it had a right to respond to Iran’s attacks. The Pentagon also declined to comment.
In March, multiple Hebrew media outlets put out near-simultaneous reports that the UAE had struck a desalination plant in Iran in response to Tehran’s strikes across the Gulf. The accounts sparked fury among Emirati officials, who called out what they called false Israeli media reports.
The Journal article did not shed light on that report.
During the US-Israel war on Iran, Tehran launched sustained attacks on the UAE, firing some 550 ballistic and cruise missiles and more than 2,200 drones, according to the Emirati defense ministry, making it the most-targeted country in the region, including Israel.
The UAE reported likely Iranian attacks restarted over the past week in their territories, as Tehran appeared to be ramping up its strikes in the region despite the fragile ceasefire.
Iran, which had vowed to strike US bases in the region, targeted states across the Gulf with missile fire during the war. It also blocked the Strait of Hormuz, choking off a key pathway for the flow of oil and natural gas.
While most projectiles fired at the UAE were intercepted, some struck military and civilian targets.
Israel launched its campaign against Iran, alongside the US, to degrade the Iranian regime’s military capabilities, distance threats posed by Iran — including its nuclear and ballistic missile programs — and “create the conditions” for the Iranian people to topple the regime, the military and other Israeli leaders have said.
The ceasefire declared by Trump in April came with the core declared goals of the war unfulfilled.
Ghalibaf says only option is to accept ‘rights of the Iranian people’ laid out in ceasefire proposal; Pakistan reportedly hosting Iran’s military aircraft despite mediator role
A man waves an Iranian flag for a pro-government campaign under a billboard with graphic showing Strait of Hormuz and sewn lips of US President Donald Trump in a square in downtown Tehran, Iran, on May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iran’s chief negotiator in talks with the US said on Monday the Islamic Republic is “ready to deliver a well-deserved response to any aggression,” as US President Donald Trump reportedly considered restarting the war after negotiations with Tehran reached a dead end.
“Mistaken strategy and mistaken decisions will always lead to mistaken results,” Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X. “The whole world has already figured this out.
“We are prepared for all options; they will be surprised,” he wrote.
In a later post, Ghalibaf added, “There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal.
“Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another. The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it,” he stated.
Negotiations with Iran again reached a dead end over the weekend after Tehran refused to make significant concessions on its nuclear program.
Trump said on Monday Iran’s response was a “piece of garbage” and that the current ceasefire was “unbelievably weak.”
The US president claimed that Iranian negotiators told their American counterparts that they were prepared for the US to retrieve Tehran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium, but then refrained from putting that concession in the response paper submitted over the weekend. Iran has shown no public indication that it is prepared to make such a concession.
Trump also told Fox News on Monday that he is considering renewing the operation to assist stuck ships out of the Iran-blocked Strait of Hormuz after he called it off last week, about a day after it began. He told the TV station that if he decides to renew Project Freedom, it would “only be a piece” of a larger military operation.
The US has been blockading Iran’s ports, as Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has demanded a ceasefire in Lebanon as part of the talks as well; while there is technically a truce in place there, it has largely unraveled.
While Iran has warned against a global effort to open the Hormuz Strait, the United Kingdom and France announced they will host a multinational meeting on Tuesday of more than 40 defense ministers, on military plans to restore trade flows through the strait.
Trump on Monday held a high-level security meeting in the White House Situation Room to discuss next steps on Iran, a US official told The Times of Israel.
US President Donald Trump speaks at a dinner for members of his administration and law enforcement organization leaders, during National Police Week, in the White House Rose Garden, in Washington, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Participants in Monday’s meeting included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Channel 12 reported, citing two senior US officials, that Trump is considering renewed military action to increase pressure on Iran, with one official quoted as saying: “Trump is going to hit them a bit.”
Separately, US officials told CBS News that Pakistan has been providing a safe haven for Iranian military aircraft, even as it acted as a mediator between Tehran and Washington in an attempt to reach a permanent ceasefire.
The report said that shortly after Trump announced a ceasefire in early April, Islamabad allowed Iranian military aircraft to seek refuge at its airbases, seemingly to prevent them from being struck by the US military.
Israel, which launched the military campaign against Iran jointly with the US in late February, is not represented at the talks. Host Pakistan has no diplomatic ties with Israel and does not recognize its sovereignty.
The ceasefire declared by Trump in April came with core declared goals of the war unfulfilled, including ensuring that Iran does not attain nuclear weapons, destroying its missile program, and creating the conditions for the Iranian public to overthrow the regime.
A residential building damaged by recent US-Israeli strikes is seen in Fardis, west of Tehran, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
US sanctions firms, individuals for aiding Iran’s oil trade with China
The US government, meanwhile Monday, announced sanctions against three people and nine companies, including four based in Hong Kong and four in the United Arab Emirates, for aiding Iran’s shipment of oil to China. The ninth company is based in Oman.
The US Treasury move follows sanctions announced on Friday on individuals and companies aiding Iranian purchases of weapons and components used to make drones and ballistic missiles.
It came days before Trump’s planned meeting with Xi Jinping, during which he is expected to press the Chinese leader to help resolve the standoff with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The Treasury said the new designations by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) were aimed at individuals and entities that helped Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sell and ship its allotment of Iranian oil to China using a series of front companies.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would keep using sanctions to deprive the Iranian government and military of funding for weapons, its nuclear program, or support for proxies in the region.
Two women from the Iranian Red Crescent Society stand as a thick plume of smoke from a US-Israeli strike on an oil storage facility late Saturday rises into the sky in Tehran, Iran on March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
“Treasury will continue to cut the Iranian regime off from the financial networks it uses to carry out terrorist acts and to destabilize the global economy,” Bessent said.
The State Department also announced a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the disruption of the financial mechanisms of the IRGC, which is designated by Washington as a terrorist organization, and its branches.
The Treasury said the IRGC relies on shell companies to arrange and receive payment for its allotment of Iranian oil shipments. It said Monday’s action builds on sanctions imposed in July 2025 on Golden Globe, a Turkey-based company that Treasury said handles hundreds of millions of dollars in IRGC oil sales annually.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf SalamREUTERS/Emilie Madi
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stated on Sunday that Lebanon remains open to a formal peace agreement with Israel, provided specific conditions are satisfied.
Speaking in an interview with Al-Arabiya, Salam emphasized that his government’s immediate priority is the cessation of active hostilities and a definitive conclusion to the ongoing conflict.
The Prime Minister’s comments come amid a fragile ceasefire that took effect last month, following a period of intense cross-border violence.
Salam revealed that current diplomatic efforts are focused on establishing a concrete framework for the removal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory. He noted that negotiations currently include Lebanon’s demand for “a clear agenda for Israeli withdrawal.”
The Prime Minister also suggested that Lebanon has been used as a battlefield for foreign interests. He stated that Lebanon “did not choose the war, but was dragged into the confrontation between Iran and the United States.”
Despite the influence of various factions within the country, Salam maintained that there is a broad domestic consensus in favor of a diplomatic resolution. “The majority of Lebanese support negotiations to stop the war,” he asserted.
Salam’s comments come ahead of another round of talks between Israel and Lebanon, which the US will host in Washington this coming Thursday. The State Department said on Friday that the meeting will build on the April 23 round of talks, which was led personally by President Donald Trump.
After the April 23 meeting which was attended by Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, and Lebanon’s Ambassador to the US, Nada Hamadeh Moawad,Trump expressed hope that a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon would be possible this year.
Trump also said he hopes to host a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Washington within the next few weeks.
Aoun has made clear that a high-level summit with Netanyahu is currently out of the question, stressing that the cessation of hostilities must be the primary focus before any direct political engagement can be considered.
Despite Aoun’s reluctance, the US has reiterated its backing for a meeting between Netanyahu and Aoun.
“President Trump has been clear that direct engagement between the two countries is the best way to swiftly advance a lasting peace and security agreement,” a State Department official said in a statement.
“Diplomacy is ongoing, and we will not comment on our ongoing discussions with the two countries,” the official continued.
“Hezbollah is still trying to derail negotiations with attacks on Israel and threats inside of Lebanon. We are working to create the conditions and political momentum needed to move this forward,” concluded the State Department official.
