Iran’s mass drone and missile strikes rattle Gulf security

Iran has unleashed a sweeping campaign of missile and drone attacks across the Persian Gulf, striking the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq in response to coordinated United States and Israeli airstrikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The offensive, which began on 28 February and has entered its fourth day, has left at least six foreign nationals dead in the UAE and injured dozens more, while forcing Gulf governments to spend billions of dollars on air and missile defense to protect cities, bases, and critical infrastructure. The strikes represent Iran’s most extensive direct military operation against neighboring states in modern times, hitting not only U.S. military installations but also civilian sites including hotels, airports, and energy facilities across the region.

The United Arab Emirates has borne the brunt of the barrage. By 2 March, the UAE Defense Ministry reported that Iranian forces had launched 186 ballistic missiles toward its territory, of which 172 were intercepted while 13 fell into the sea. Emirati radars also detected 812 Iranian drones; air defenses destroyed 755, while 57 reached UAE territory, and eight cruise missiles were shot down. The attacks killed three foreign workers from Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh and injured 68 people in the country. Shahed‑type drones struck near the Fairmont The Palm hotel on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, sparking a fire and injuring four individuals, while falling interceptor debris damaged the Burj Al Arab and landed in residential neighborhoods close to Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport. Saudi Arabia reported intercepting drones aimed at Prince Sultan Air Base and King Khalid International Airport, and a fire broke out at the Ras Tanura oil refinery after debris from a downed drone hit the facility. In Bahrain, authorities said air defenses downed 45 missiles and nine drones, including projectiles fired at the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet.​

The attacks have extended to the maritime domain as well. Off Oman’s coast, the oil tanker MKD VYOM was hit by an unmanned surface vessel roughly 52 nautical miles offshore, in one of the first confirmed uses of a naval drone in the conflict. The blast in the engine room killed an Indian crew member, and the remaining 20 crew were evacuated from the damaged ship. Regional officials say the incident underscores the growing threat to shipping lanes that are vital for global oil and gas flows.

Military analysts warn that the scale of Iranian strikes has revealed a sharp cost imbalance that could undermine Gulf air defenses over time. Iran’s Shahed‑136 drones are estimated to cost between 20,000 and 50,000 dollars per unit, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, while the PAC‑3 MSE interceptors used against ballistic missiles cost about 3 to 5 million dollars each, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. Anadolu Agency calculated that Iran’s total spending on missiles and drones in this campaign ranges from roughly 194 to 391 million dollars, whereas the UAE alone has already spent several times more on interception, with total air defense costs estimated at 1.31 to 2.61 billion dollars. For drones in particular, every dollar Iran spends is prompting an estimated 15 to 35 dollars in Emirati defensive outlays, highlighting an extreme cost asymmetry that observers say is not sustainable if the attacks continue. Bahrain’s interception bill has been put at between 337 and 450 million dollars, further underscoring the budgetary strain on smaller Gulf monarchies.

The conflict has widened beyond the Gulf littoral and deepened regional tensions. Hezbollah has fired rockets into northern Israel from Lebanese territory, drawing Israeli retaliatory airstrikes near Beirut, while Israeli and U.S. warplanes have sustained a fourth straight day of strikes against targets inside Iran. Qatar’s air force shot down two Iranian Su‑24 bombers that entered its airspace, marking a dangerous new escalation in direct air‑to‑air engagements between Gulf states and Iran. The U.S. State Department has urged American citizens to leave the Middle East immediately, citing the risk of further attacks across multiple countries. In a joint statement, the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, and the United States condemned what they described as Iran’s indiscriminate and reckless attacks on sovereign territories and civilian infrastructure. President Donald Trump said from the White House that the military campaign could last “four to five weeks” and declined to rule out the deployment of ground forces if required.