Iran's army claims a drone attack on the UAE's Al Minhad air base
Iran's army said it attacked the United Arab Emirates' Al Minhad air base with drones early on Monday, targeting locations where US forces and helicopters were stationed, and presented the raid as an answer to deaths on Larak Island. The claim has not been independently confirmed. Hours after the two countries traded attacks, US President Donald Trump posted a clip he said showed Kharg Island exploding; AI software found it most likely synthetically generated. President Masoud Pezeshkian is due at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek.
Geopolitics··Midday
The army says drones hit Al Minhad; the UAE has not confirmed it
Iran's army said it attacked the United Arab Emirates' Al Minhad air base with drones early on Monday, in a statement carried by Iranian state television. The army said the attack targeted locations where US forces and helicopters were stationed, and that it answered the killing of Revolutionary Guards and Iranian civilians on Larak Island, the site of the US strike that reopened direct fighting after more than a month. The claim has not been independently confirmed: there was no immediate comment from the United Arab Emirates and its defence ministry had not issued a statement on the matter.[1]
Trump posts a Kharg Island clip; no strike is in evidence
US President Donald Trump posted a video clip on Truth Social on Sunday that he said showed Iran's oil hub Kharg Island being blown to smithereens, hours after the two countries traded attacks for the first time since July. Software that detects AI-manipulated imagery found the clip was most likely synthetically generated, and several hours after the post there was no evidence Kharg had been attacked. Kharg handled 90 per cent of Iran's oil exports before the war that US and Israeli attacks opened on 28 February. The White House and the US Defense Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was not seeking war but would respond decisively to any aggression, in remarks state media carried on Monday before his trip to Kyrgyzstan; it is not clear whether he spoke before or after Trump's post.[2]
Pezeshkian is due in Bishkek as Putin and Xi open the SCO summit
Russia's Vladimir Putin, China's Xi Jinping and more than a dozen other leaders gather in Kyrgyzstan on Monday for a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the regional bloc marking its 25th anniversary. Iran's president Masoud Pezeshkian, India's Narendra Modi and Pakistan's Shehbaz Sharif are due to join a plenary session chaired by Kyrgyz leader Sadyr Japarov. Xi arrived in Bishkek on Sunday and described relations with Kyrgyzstan as a golden period. Kremlin spokesman Yuri Ushakov said Putin will also hold separate bilateral talks with Pezeshkian and Xi among others; the meeting with Pezeshkian follows a rare trip to Moscow by CIA director John Ratcliffe. The bloc has 10 members and 15 dialogue partners including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, plus two observer countries, Afghanistan and Mongolia.[3]
