A drone strike hit the perimeter of a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates, causing a fire and raising fears of renewed war between the US and Iran.
So far the damage has been localised to the perimeter of the Barakah nuclear facility.
There have been no reports of injuries or release of radioactive material.
At present, no-one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
In recent days, the UAE has accused Iran of launching a number of missile and drone attacks against it, as tensions remain high over the US blockade of the vital Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil and gas exports normally pass.
The Barakah power plant was constructed with the help of engineers from South Korea, at a cost of $20 billion, and went online in 2020.
It is the only nuclear power plant in the Arab world and provides a full quarter of the energy needs of the UAE.
Uranium for the facility is not domestically enriched, but bought from aboard, as part of a deal struck with the US.
Director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency Marian Grossi expressed “grave concern” over the incident, and said any attacks in nuclear infrastructure are unacceptable.
Although today’s strike is the first against the facility during the current war, Yemen’s Houthi rebels—against whom the UAE and its Saudi allies fought a long war—claimed to have targeted the plant while it was under construction in 2017.
According to The Washington Post, “There have been several instances of attacks around the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf countries in recent weeks. Talks between Iran and the U.S. are at a standstill as the ceasefire threatens to collapse and tip the Middle East back into open warfare , prolonging the worldwide energy crisis sparked by the conflict.
“Two people familiar with the situation, including an Israeli military officer, said Israel is coordinating with the U.S. about a possible resumption of attacks. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing confidential military preparations.
“Speaking to his Cabinet on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ‘our eyes are also open’ when it comes to Iran. He said he planned a chat with Trump later in the day to discuss the president’s trip to China and ‘perhaps’ other things. ‘We are prepared for any scenario,’ he said.”
On Friday, President Trump commented on the latest peace proposal from Iran, which he said did not go far enough in its nuclear guarantees.
“If they have any nuclear of any form, I don’t read the rest of it,” Trump told reporters.
He said he would be willing to accept a 20-year moratorium on nuclear weapons.
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4 Responses
Rumor has it a new round of Israel.US attacks on Iran are in the works. Isn’t this convenient….
This is what is so sad about Donald Trump.
1 Policies. He sometimes delivers, sometimes not. He swears and declares Iran will NEVER have a nuclear weapon, and then says he would be OK with a 20 year moratorium. 20 years goes by quickly. 20 years has already gone since Obama was in office. Trump knows he will be gone in 20 years’ time. What about the rest of humanity?
2 People.
He sometimes encourages and builds on the support from various commentators. Then when they happen to disagree with him on some issue, instead of allowing them to have their opinion, he castigates and vilifies them and behaves like a power-drunk king, setting the the counter-terrorism ogre Sebastian Gorka to investigate them as traitors. Suddenly the Demonrats’ “no kings” narrative begins to assemble meaning and sound not so insane after all. A good but sad reminder that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
3 The Art of the Deal
Maybe his acquired deal-making skills are well-refined for New Jersey, but they are horrible for the Middle East. From saying the war will be over in four days, eleven weeks have now gone by and he has allowed several extensions of his ceasefires and ultimatums, every time saying that Iran is ready to make a deal, giving the other side ample time to re-group, reload and redeploy. He boasts that Iran’s entire navy has been sunk and doesn’t recognise the asymmetric power of the speedboats, mines and remaining missiles that have practically halted the flow of the commercial shipping in the straits. Why did he not take out the remaining missiles, mines and speedboats two months ago? He behaves as if the siege can go on forever, merely because he knows that the US has enough energy. But he does not care about the rest of the world or all the poor farmers that won’t get fertiliser. He says that he has won but the world sees that he hasn’t won because there is practically no commercial shipping traffic through the straits of Hormuz. The straits are at a standstill. Maybe a global recession is his real goal. One wonders. So far nothing has improved and the mid-terms are coming up in only 5 months. Republicans risk losing the House. Perhaps that is the goal. To lose the critical wing of the right for ever, just as Clinton had to move to the middle for his second term and lost his critical left wing when he did so.
Israel is the destruction of America.
One of these days they will all realize that Israel and her ambitions is behind the scenes and perhaps they will do something about it. Its frustrating for Americans, but what Israel wants Israel gets and that pattern needs to be broken. Imagine countries willing to import men to become the fathers of their children and in 50 years change the entire cosmology of their culture??? Governments all over the world are guilty of playing these 3-D chess games with the world economy and have come to the end of their tether. Does it make sense to solve the problem by satisfying the hateful Arab or Muslim from Africa by allowing them to rape, stab, impregnate your daughters? If the government is as sick as it appears to be, it has grown old painting its grey on grey and no longer is useful.