The United Arab Emirates said Sunday that a drone struck a generator at its nuclear power plant and caused a fire amid a continuing ceasefire between Iran and the United States. No country has taken responsibility.
The Gulf Arab country's Ministry of Defense reported that three drones on Sunday entered the country from its western border area. Two of the drones were successfully intercepted by its defense systems, while the third drone hit an electrical generator outside the inner perimeter of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the UAE's Al Dhafra region, it added.
The Ministry of Defense did not assign blame for the drones and said that an investigation is underway. More details will be announced after the probe is completed, it added.
Its statement said that the UAE "remains fully prepared and ready to address any threats and will firmly confront any attempts to undermine the country's security, in a manner that safeguards its sovereignty, security and stability, and protects its national interests and gains."
The $20 billion Barakah nuclear power plant, built by the UAE with the help of South Korea, went online in 2020. It is the only nuclear power plant in the Arab world and can provide a quarter of the energy needs in the UAE, a wealthy oil-rich nation that is home to major trade, tourism, and finance hub Dubai.
The UAE’s nuclear regulator said in a statement the fire didn’t affect plant safety and “all units are operating as normal.” Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, later said he spoke by phone with his South Korean counterpart.
The head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, held a meeting with the deputy prime minister of the UAE, Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE's Foreign Ministry said in a post on X.
The attack on the power plant sparked a fire but no causalities were reported, and there was no impact on radiation levels, the foreign ministry also said. It added that Zayed told the U.N. watchdog's head, Rafael Grossi, that he "strongly condemned the treacherous terrorist attack that resulted in a fire in an electrical generator."
While no one has yet claimed responsibility, the UAE has accused Iran of launching drone and missile attacks in recent days amid tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy waterway still gripped by Iran, which is under a U.S. naval blockade.
Since the start of the U.S.–Iran conflict, Tehran has launched drones and missiles at the UAE, commercial vessels in the region, and at other Gulf Arab states, which it has justified by saying those countries have been supporting the United States' efforts against Iran.
The UAE and Israel have confirmed that the Gulf Arab nation has also hosted air defenses and personnel from Israel, which joined the U.S. military in the Feb. 28 strikes on Iran that sparked the war.
Trump also told reporters on Air Force One that the United States or China could enter Iran to remove what he termed "nuclear dust," referring to enriched uranium that was buried under rubble in the aftermath of U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran in the summer of 2025.