Drone targets UAE nuclear power plant, straining Iran war ceasefire

The Barakah nuclear power plant went online in 2020 with the help of South Korea and is the first and only nuclear power plant on the Arabian Peninsula A drone strike targeted the United Arab Emirates’ Barakah nuclear power plant on Sunday, setting an electrical generator ablaze on its perimeter and again straining the shaky ceasefire in the Iran war. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which caused no radiological release nor injuries, authorities in the UAE’s capital, Abu Dhabi, said. However, suspicion immediately fell on Iran, which has been increasingly threatening the UAE over recent days as the country hosted Israeli Iron Dome missile defences and troops during the war. The attack comes as Iran still has a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway where a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas passed through before the war, disrupting global energy supplies. Meanwhile, the US continues to block Iranian ports in response as negotiations to solidify the ceasefire have failed to advance. US President Donald Trump has suggested hostilities could resume, as fire exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon have been rising in recent days, threatening a separate ceasefire there.

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