Photo credit: Korea Times
A drone strike sparked a fire on the edge of the United Arab Emirates’ sole nuclear power plant on Sunday in what authorities called an “unprovoked terrorist attack.”https://www.youtube.com/live/CNgx3LSgNIY?si=vJY9cCfbHJys7YSK
The Korea Times reports that no one was blamed, but it highlighted the risk of renewed war as the United \states and Iran signalled they were ready to fight again.
There were no reported injuries or radiological release. The UAE, which has hosted air defences and personnel from Israel, recently accused Iran of launching drone and missile attacks. Tensions have risen over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy waterway controlled by Iran, which is under a US blockade.
There is currently a ceasefire between the two parties, but it remains tenuous, with diplomatic efforts for a more durable peace having failed. And fighting has heated up between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon despite a nominal ceasefire there.
The UAE Defence Ministry said three drones came over its western border with Saudi Arabia, with the other two intercepted. It was investigating who launched them. Iran and allied Shiite militias in Iraq have launched drone attacks targeting Gulf Arab states in the war.
The attack, “whether carried out by the principal actor or through one of its proxies, represents a dangerous escalation,” a diplomatic adviser to the UAE president said on social media.
The UAE’s nuclear regulator said the fire didn’t affect plant safety and “all units are operating as normal.” The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, said the strike caused a fire in an electrical generator, and one reactor was being powered by emergency diesel generators.
It’s the first time the four-reactor Barakah plant has been targeted in the war. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, whom the UAE has battled as part of a Saudi-led coalition, claimed to have targeted the plant while it was under construction in 2017, which Abu Dhabi denied.
