A drone strike set off a fire at the edge of the UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant on Sunday, authorities said, while officials in Washington and Tehran signaled they were prepared for the risk of renewed fighting. The UAE said there were no reported injuries and no radiological release, and its nuclear regulator said the plant’s four units were operating normally after the incident.
The UAE Defense Ministry said three drones came over the UAE’s western border with Saudi Arabia, and that two were intercepted. The ministry said it was investigating who launched the drones. The incident occurred amid rising regional tensions, including over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy waterway that Iran has threatened to disrupt.
UAE officials and regulators emphasized that the strike did not compromise the plant’s safety systems. The UAE nuclear regulator said the fire did not affect plant safety and that “all units are operating as normal,” while the International Atomic Energy Agency said the strike caused a fire in an electrical generator. The IAEA also said one reactor was being powered by emergency diesel generators.
The AP report said the Sunday attack marked the first time Barakah, a four-reactor plant, had been targeted in the current war. The plant, built with help from South Korea and brought online in 2020, is the only nuclear power plant in the Arab world and can provide about a quarter of the UAE’s energy needs, according to the report. It is valued by the UAE as a key part of its energy system; the project has also been associated with past wartime risk narratives from Iran-backed actors.
The UAE has described the drone threat as linked to Iran. The report said the UAE recently accused Iran of launching drone and missile attacks, and that Iran and allied Shiite militias in Iraq have carried out drone strikes targeting Gulf Arab states in the war. Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said the attack—whether carried out by Iran or through its proxies—represented a “dangerous escalation.”
The AP report also placed the UAE strike within a wider diplomatic context that officials described as fragile. It said diplomatic efforts for a more durable ceasefire have faltered, and that fighting has heated up between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon despite a nominal ceasefire. It added that Israel was coordinating with the United States on possible resumption of attacks, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously because they discussed confidential military preparations.
In Washington, President Donald Trump posted on social media shortly after a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a conversation the AP report said came after the war was sparked by Netanyahu’s attack on Iran on Feb. 28. Trump wrote that “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them,” according to the report. The AP added that Trump has repeatedly set deadlines for Tehran and then backed off.
In Tehran, state television quoted Mohsen Rezaei, described by the AP as a military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, saying: “Our armed forces’ fingers are on the trigger, while diplomacy is also continuing.” The report said Netanyahu, speaking to his Cabinet on Sunday, told ministers that “our eyes are also open” when it comes to Iran and that “we are prepared for any scenario.”
The AP report said the UAE’s nuclear program differs from the nuclear programs in Iran and Israel. It said the UAE signed a “123 agreement” with the United States that required the UAE to forego domestic uranium enrichment and reprocessing of spent fuel, with its uranium coming from abroad. By contrast, the report said Iran has enriched uranium close to weapons-grade levels and has often restricted U.N. inspectors, including since a 12-day war with Israel last year.
The drone strike also comes as countries in the region and beyond have increasingly targeted nuclear sites during wartime, the AP report said. It cited examples including claims by Tehran during the Iran war that its Bushehr nuclear plant had been attacked, though it said there was no direct damage to its Russian-run reactor or any radiological release.
Magdy reported from Cairo. The AP said Amir Vahdat in Tehran and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv contributed.