DUBAI — A drone strike targeted the United Arab Emirates’ sole nuclear power plant on Sunday, sparking a fire on its perimeter in the most significant escalation since the fragile Iran ceasefire took hold. There were no reports of injuries or radiological release, but the attack sent shockwaves through Gulf capitals and underscored how quickly the regional truce could unravel.
The Barakah nuclear plant — the first and only nuclear power facility in the Arab world, built with South Korean assistance and operational since 2020 — was struck by an unmanned aerial vehicle that ignited an electrical generator on the plant’s grounds, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. IAEA director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi expressed “grave concern” and said military activity threatening nuclear safety is unacceptable under any circumstances.
UAE authorities moved quickly to reassure the public. The country’s nuclear regulator said all units continued to operate normally and that safety systems functioned as designed. The Abu Dhabi government issued a statement calling the strike a “flagrant violation of sovereignty” and demanded accountability, though it stopped short of publicly attributing blame.
However, multiple regional sources said the attack bore the hallmarks of Iran-backed proxy forces. The UAE has accused Tehran of launching multiple drone and missile attacks in recent days as tensions over the Strait of Hormuz have spiraled. The strait remains under an Iranian chokehold, with the US maintaining a naval blockade of Iranian ports that has crippled the country’s oil exports and squeezed its economy.
The Barakah plant sits near the Saudi border, approximately 225 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi, and represents a quarter of the UAE’s total electricity generation capacity. Its targeting marks the first direct strike on the facility since the war began, following previous attacks that targeted the plant during its construction phase in 2017 — a claim denied at the time by the UAE but later linked to Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
“Our eyes are open,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday. Speaking from Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Israel was coordinating closely with the United States on possible next steps. “We are prepared for any scenario,” he said, adding that a conversation with President Trump was planned for later that day. Two Israeli military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the IDF was preparing contingency plans that could include resuming strikes against Iranian nuclear infrastructure.
On Iranian state television, the response was immediate and visceral. Anchors on multiple channels appeared on air armed with rifles. On one program, presenter Hossein Hosseini received basic firearms training from a masked member of the Revolutionary Guard, then mimed firing at the Emirati flag. A female presenter, Mobina Nasiri, declared on air that she was “ready to sacrifice my life for this country.” The broadcasts signaled a hardening of public opinion inside Iran as the ceasefire with the US remains under severe strain.
The Vienna-based IAEA confirmed one of Barakah’s four reactors was powered by emergency diesel generators following the strike. Grossi said the agency’s inspectors were monitoring the situation closely but that access to the facility had become more complicated due to the deteriorating security environment.
Diplomatic efforts to salvage the ceasefire faced a new crisis Sunday as talks between Iran and the United States in Doha hit a wall. Iranian state media said the negotiating team had submitted a revised proposal to the US side, demanding the lifting of all naval blockades before any further progress on the nuclear file. American officials rejected the demand, describing it as a “non-starter.”
Meanwhile, the UK announced it was deploying the HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer, to the Gulf to “reinforce regional stability.” The deployment brings the total number of Western naval vessels in the Persian Gulf to the highest level since the opening phases of the war. The US carrier USS Truman remains stationed in the Arabian Sea, and Pentagon officials said additional air defense systems were being moved to land-based positions in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Energy markets reacted sharply to the news. Brent crude rose 3.2 percent in Asian trading before easing as traders weighed the implications for supply routes through the Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passes. Shipping companies reported a surge in war-risk insurance premiums for vessels transiting the Gulf, with some tankers rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the zone entirely.
The attack on the Barakah plant marks a dangerous threshold in a conflict that has repeatedly threatened to expand beyond its original boundaries. For the UAE, the strike is a direct challenge to a country that has long positioned itself as a neutral actor in regional disputes. For Israel, it represents vindication of its long-standing warnings that the ceasefire was incomplete and that Iran’s regional reach remained intact. And for the Biden administration, which brokered the original ceasefire, the attack raises fundamental questions about whether Tehran’s proxies can be trusted to observe any agreement.
Regional analysts said the timing of the strike — coming just days before the scheduled delivery of the first shipment of nuclear fuel rods to the Barakah plant under the US-UAE civil nuclear cooperation agreement — suggested the attack was designed to send a political message as much as to cause physical damage. Iran has strongly opposed the agreement, viewing the US-built plant as part of a broader American military and technological presence in the Gulf that threatens its strategic interests.
As the international community scrambled to respond, the immediate priority for UAE authorities was ensuring the safety of the plant’s workforce and maintaining operations at one of the most strategically important energy facilities in the Middle East.
— Layla Hassan, Media Hook
