UAE issues missile alert as Qatar reports intercepting Iranian fire after third round of US strikes

Early on Sunday, July 12, after the United States launched its third round of strikes this week against Iran, the United Arab Emirates issued a missile and drone alert for the first time in months, urging residents to seek shelter. A number of inbound flights to Dubai and Abu Dhabi were briefly placed in holding patterns.

Explosions were heard in Qatar, and its military said it had intercepted incoming Iranian fire. In Bahrain, an island in the Persian Gulf that hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, residents were also warned to take shelter.

The escalation followed a Revolutionary Guard attack on a Cyprus-flagged container ship in the Strait of Hormuz and the US military response. Spreading the conflict to the Persian Gulf states raises the security risk along a route that carries roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and gas, and could intensify pressure on oil, gold and currency markets.