Iran hits Gulf neighbors, keeps stranglehold on oil shipping, fueling energy crisis fears

Dubai was forced to temporarily close its airport early Monday after an Iranian drone hit a fuel tank and a major refinery was on fire as Iran maintained its attacks on its Gulf neighbors, heightening fears of a global oil crisis.

Since being attacked by the United States and Israel more than two weeks ago, Iran has been regularly hitting Israel, American bases, and its Gulf Arab neighbors’ energy infrastructure and other key infrastructure targets with drones and missiles.

It has also effectively stopped shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported, giving rise to growing fears of a global energy crisis and putting pressure on Washington as consumers are already feeling the pain at the pump.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, remained stubbornly over $100 a barrel on Monday. It was at $104 in early trading, up nearly 45 percent since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. It has spiked as high as about $120 during the conflict.

US President Donald Trump said he has made demands to about seven countries to send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, but his appeals have brought no commitments. His party is growingly concerned that rising prices for American consumers will hurt the Republicans in elections this fall.

“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their own territory,” Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington from Florida aboard Air Force One. He did not identify the countries, but has previously appealed to China, France, Japan, South Korea, and Britain.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called claims that his country may be seeking a negotiated end to the war “delusional,” saying in a social media post early Monday that his country was seeking neither “truce nor talks.”

“Our Powerful Armed Forces will keep firing until POTUS realizes that illegal war he’s imposing on both Americans and Iranians is wrong and must never be repeated,” he wrote on X.

Iran hits Dubai airport, forcing temporary closure

As morning broke Monday, a drone hit a fuel tank near Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international passenger traffic, causing a large fire.

Firefighters were able to contain the blaze and there were no injuries reported, but the airport temporarily suspended all flights. UAE airline Emirates, which uses the airport as its main hub, said all of its flights were “suspended until further notice.”

⚡️#BREAKING Fires erupt in Dubai following Iranian drone strikes pic.twitter.com/sBDs9JX809

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) March 16, 2026

Later, the UAE’s Defense Ministry said its forces were working to intercept another round of Iranian missiles and drones.

“UAE air defences are currently responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran,” the ministry posted on X. It noted that “sounds heard” were from air defense systems intercepting missiles and drones.

“Dubai Civil Aviation Authority announces the temporary suspension of flights at Dubai International Airport as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of all passengers and staff,” the Gulf financial hub’s media office posted on X.

Emirates told passengers in a statement on X not to come to the airport and said it was working with authorities “to assess the situation and support the safe resumption of operations when possible.”

The national carrier said in a later post that it expected to operate a “limited schedule” after 10:00 am Dubai time (0600 GMT) and that some flights had been cancelled.

Dubai’s police said the main road to the airport had been temporarily closed to traffic.

The airport operator later said flights were resuming.

“Flights to and from DXB are gradually resuming to selected destinations, following the temporary suspension implemented as a precautionary measure,” Dubai Airports said in a statement on X.

The latest incident near what is usually the world’s busiest airport for international travel affected a fuel tank, the Dubai media office said, later adding that authorities had contained a fire that broke out and reporting no injuries.

Two witnesses told AFP they saw a thick plume of black smoke rising from the direction of the airport at around 10:00 local Dubai time, hours after the incident.

A witness at Dubai airport told AFP that passengers awaiting their flights had been evacuated to a lower floor after the attack for several hours.

“It has been a difficult few weeks hearing explosions regularly, but the Iranian attacks followed me in my last hours before I could fly back home,” the witness added.

Another drone attack on the UAE’s east coast Fujairah oil industry zone sparked a fire, authorities said.

“A large fire broke out in the Fujairah Oil Industries Zone as a result of being targeted by a drone, with no injuries reported,” Fujairah authorities said, adding “efforts continue to bring it under control”.

נמל אלפוג'יירה באיחוד האמירויות עולה באש לאחר שהותקף בידי כטב"ם איראני pic.twitter.com/A1mgsohK1o

— איתי בלומנטל ???????? Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) March 16, 2026

The site sits on the UAE’s Gulf of Oman coast, beyond the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has fired over 1,800 missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates, more than any other country targeted by Tehran in the Middle East war, upending travel plans in the financial hub despite its air defense intercepting a vast majority of the projectiles. Debris and some drones have fallen inside the country.

Iran has also fired hundreds of missiles and drones toward Gulf countries hosting US military assets since the war began, as well as at Israel.

Iranian officials have recently accused the UAE of allowing its territory to be used for attacks against Iran. Emirati officials have rejected the allegations as misleading and said the country’s actions have been defensive.

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, said it had intercepted a wave of 35 Iranian drones sent at its eastern region, home to major oil installations.

Despite the attacks, Saudi Arabia was reported to be encouraging the US to keep hitting Iran hard.

Several officials told the New York Times that Trump was speaking regularly to Gulf leaders, particularly Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, who had been urging him to continue the strikes.

The report said Bin Salman  was “essentially repeating the advice that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who died in 2015, repeatedly gave to Washington: ‘Cut off the head of the snake.'”

Israel’s military said early Monday that Iran launched missiles toward Israel as well.

Israel’s military says Iran is firing cluster bombs that can evade some air defenses and indiscriminately scatter submunitions across multiple locations.

Trump threatens to ‘remember’ which allies do not help

On Air Force One, Trump wouldn’t say which countries could be part of the coalition he wants to police the Strait of Hormuz to provide security for oil tankers and other commercial ships passing through.

But he said he won’t forget the countries that decline to help. He named British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who he said initially declined to put British aircraft carriers “into harm’s way.”

“Whether we get support or not, but I can say this, and I said to them: We will remember,” Trump said.

On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told parliament that her government “has not heard anything” from Washington about Trump’s call for ships to help protect the Strait of Hormuz.

Japan imports more than 90% of its crude oil from the Middle East, however, and she said there had been discussions about what could be done to protect Japanese ships “regardless of a US request.”

Japan’s Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said he has no plans to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz under the current safety conditions.

Japan on Monday began releasing its oil reserves to address concerns about supply shortages and rising prices.

Trump has speculated that prices would fall, but wouldn’t directly answer whether his administration is talking about selling oil futures as a way to cap surging oil prices, something his interior secretary had mentioned as a possibility.

“The prices are going to come tumbling down as soon as it’s over. And it’s going to be over pretty quickly,” he told reporters.