Iran says it struck UAE air base shortly after Iranian president’s vow not to hit neighbors

Iran said it struck a U.S. air base in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, shortly after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country would stop attacking neighboring countries.

Iran’s Tasnim News agency said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ navy drone unit attacked the Al Dhafra air base south of the capital Abu Dhabi.

The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately confirm the attack after a CNBC request for comment. Its Ministry of Defence said in a post on X that it detected 121 unmanned aerial vehicles on Satruday, intercepted 119 of them, “while two fell within the territory of the UAE.”

Pezeshkian said earlier on Saturday that his country does not intend to attack others and apologized to neighbors in the Gulf after a week of retaliatory strikes as the U.S. and Israel maintained their military pressure on Tehran.

But Pezeshkian said the U.S. can “take their dreams to the grave; we will not surrender unconditionally.” Pezeshkian made the statement via Iran’s national news agency’s Telegram social media channel.

“I apologize to the neighboring countries,” Pezeshkian said. “We do not intend to invade other countries. Let us set aside all the disagreements, concerns, and resentments we have toward each other. Today, let us defend our own soil to bring Iran out of this crisis with dignity.”

President Donald Trump said the apology came after the “relentless U.S. and Israeli attack.”

“Iran, which is being beat to HELL, has apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social account.

“Today Iran will be hit very hard!” Trump wrote.

U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran continued on Saturday, one week after they launched their joint campaign to rid Tehran of its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities while also pushing for regime change.

Tehran’s energy-rich neighbors in the Gulf said they intercepted more missiles and drones headed for their airspace from Iran as the country’s president apologized for the attacks.

“U.S. forces have struck over 3,000 targets in the first week of Operation Epic Fury, and we are not slowing down,” U.S. Central Command said in a post on X.