UAE claims Iran fired two ballistic missiles at it

The alleged attack inflicted no damage, with both projectiles falling in water, according to Emirati officials

The UAE has accused Iran of firing two ballistic missiles at it on Tuesday, as the two-month window for US-Iran peace talks expired without a breakthrough.

The alleged incident was reported by the UAE Defense Ministry and the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA). The agencies did not explicitly say whether the incoming missiles were shot down. The military stated that one of them fell inside the country’s territorial waters, while the second landed outside.

Iran has not publicly commented on the allegations. If confirmed, it would be the first reported Iranian missile attack on the UAE in several months. At the height of the US-Israeli war on Iran, Tehran repeatedly targeted the Gulf nation, accusing it of allowing US forces to use its territory to launch attacks.

أعلنت وزارة الدفاع أن الدفاعات الجوية الإماراتية رصدت عدد 2 صواريخ باليستية قادمة من إيران باتجاه الدولة، حيث سقط الأول خارج المياه الإقليمية للدولة، فيما سقط الثاني في المياه الإقليمية.

وتؤكد وزارة الدفاع أنها على أهبة الاستعداد والجاهزية للتعامل مع أي تهديدات، والتصدي بحزم لكل… pic.twitter.com/GiMuKTjhvK

— وزارة الدفاع |MOD UAE (@modgovae) August 18, 2026

The 60-day window set out in a US-Iranian memorandum for reaching a peace deal expired on Monday without a breakthrough. The two sides repeatedly exchanged strikes during the negotiating period, while shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz remained largely disrupted.

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Earlier on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump confirmed that “no talks or conversations [were] going on, or scheduled” with Iran. “The Naval Blockade remains in full force and effect. The Hormuz Strait is open and operating. All water mines have been removed or detonated,” he claimed.

Iran maintains that it controls maritime traffic through the waterway and has repeatedly signaled plans to impose permanent tolls for safe passage.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), reiterated the position on Tuesday, arguing that Washington’s failure to reopen the strait signaled “the post-American order in the Persian Gulf.”

“The gap between America’s inability to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and its claim to own it is greater than the 7,000-mile distance between Washington and the Strait itself,” Rezaei wrote on X.