The United Arab Emirates has suspended all trade activities, exchanges and financial transactions with Iran until further notice, its foreign ministry said, citing regional escalation (Geo News).
The announcement followed a statement by the UAE’s defence ministry on Tuesday that it had detected two ballistic missiles launched from Iran — the first such incident reported since a May 4 strike on Fujairah port. The ministry later said its assessment was that the missiles targeted “maritime traffic”, and that both fell into the sea.
Iran rejected it. Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei called the UAE statement “baseless” and urged “all regional parties” to refrain from “unsubstantiated accusations”, saying any assessment must account for what he described as the continued “malicious actions” of the United States and Israel, and pointing to a history of false-flag operations.
The economic step is the significant one. Dubai has for decades been Iran’s principal commercial outlet — the channel through which Iranian goods, money and re-exports reach the wider world despite sanctions. Suspending trade and financial transactions is a far heavier measure than a diplomatic protest, and it closes a route Tehran has relied on precisely because everything else was closed.
The UAE’s interior ministry had sent a phone alert to residents on Tuesday saying the situation was safe and normal activities should resume, after an earlier alert warning of a missile threat.
The defence ministry said it affirmed “full readiness to deal with any threats and firmly confront anything that aims to destabilise the state’s security”.
The Emirates has recently accused Iran of attacking state-owned ADNOC vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz — three in the space of two days last week.
The escalation comes after the 60-day window for US-Iran talks expired on Monday without a breakthrough, with President Donald Trump saying Iran should surrender and ruling out an extension, and a senior Iranian official telling Reuters that Tehran would shift to a “fully offensive” posture.
