The past week has been incredibly challenging for airlines in the Middle East, after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, only for Iran to respond by firing missiles just about anywhere it could, including (in theory) “friendly” countries in the region. This has caused massive disruptions at airlines like Emirates, which have struggled to operate their network.
Things were finally looking up in recent days, only to then be disrupted again today. However, what’s interesting is what Iran is now claiming.
In this post:
Iran attacks Dubai Airport again, with huge explosion
Around a week ago, Dubai International Airport (DXB) was struck by an Iranian drone, causing damage to the terminal.
We’ve seen several other explosions in the UAE since then, including one this morning. On the morning of Saturday, March 7, 2026, another Iranian drone exploded near Dubai Airport. Actual damage to planes and the terminal seems limited, though it exploded terrifyingly close to the terminal. This once again prompted all operations to be halted, including some flights being put into a holding pattern, and even diverting.
Emirates resumed operations within hours, and continues to operate a very limited schedule, consisting primarily of repatriation flights. The airline has been hoping to scale up operations even more, but the risk of attacks have made it very hard to do anything reliably.
It’s always hard to know exactly what to make of this. The government of the UAE of course downplays these incidents, and seemingly everything is described as “minor.” For that matter, it’s not clear if Iran is intentionally not maximizing damage with these drones, or if they’re just really bad at directing them.
Iran apologizes for attack, claims it’ll stop
Here’s where it gets even more interesting, as I see it. Iran’s attacks of nearby countries seems to have questionable logic, but the chaos has continued. Today, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that the country’s temporary leadership council has approved the suspension of attacks on nearby countries.
Specifically, they’ve committed to not carrying out any missile strikes or attacks against nearby countries unless an attack on Iran originates from their territory. Pezeshkian has said that “I must apologise on my own behalf and on behalf of Iran to the neighbouring countries that were attacked by Iran,” but that of course doesn’t extend to the United States or Israel.
In reference to those countries, Pezeshkian has said that “the enemies must take their wish for the surrender of the Iranian people to their graves.”
It’s hard to trust the Iranian government, and for that matter, it’s anyone’s guess how this situation evolves in the coming weeks. However, it’s at least generally encouraging to hear that attacks on nearby countries could stop.
Bottom line
Dubai Airport was attacked again this morning, with an Iranian missile exploding right next to the terminal, nearly a week after the last major attack of the airport. Obviously the risk of these missiles has caused problems for operating reliably at the airport.
What’s noteworthy this time around is that Iran has apologized, and has claimed it will no longer send missiles to nearby countries, unless attacks on Iran originate from those areas. We’ll see how true that claim ends up being…
What do you make of this latest attack on Dubai Airport, plus Iran’s claims?
Khamenei had no successor in line when he was assassinated. China and Russia had warned him numerous times of the imminent assassination, but he refused to hide in the bunker because it would not be a positive optics and he paid with his life. Bush Jr. and Cheney begged to differ during 9-11 attack. However, he allowed regional leaders to respond to the attacks at their own discretion after he was killed or the communication...
Khamenei had no successor in line when he was assassinated. China and Russia had warned him numerous times of the imminent assassination, but he refused to hide in the bunker because it would not be a positive optics and he paid with his life. Bush Jr. and Cheney begged to differ during 9-11 attack. However, he allowed regional leaders to respond to the attacks at their own discretion after he was killed or the communication system was interrupted. The same way he did not green light Hamas to launch the attack that resulted in its demise. UAE has threatened to freeze Iranian assets if the attacks continue and at the moment, there is no central leadership in charge.
Dubai is the world's top city of all white collar crimes take place with impunity, such as money laundering, drugs trafficking, weapons transactional dealings, etc.. As an avid watcher of "Trafficked" with Mariana van Zeller and reader of Al-Jazeera, both sources enrich my knowledge of the underground dark and brutal businesses in the world. But westerners hype and love the superficial decadent lavish lifestyles on the surface. As for the assertion that UAE wants to stay out of regional conflicts, you want to dismiss the starvation and massacres in Yemen perpetrated by Saudi Arabia and UAE when they joined forces together. In addition, UAE currently supports the faction group in Sudan that slaughtered more than 3000 Sudanese Christians in the south so far, while SA supports the opposing faction. You do not know or care about it because they are black Christians not white Christians. It is not a race game. If you want to understand ME conflicts and cultures, read news only from non-profit news media and avoid all other western news media. They have been extremely successful in indoctrinating western population when it comes to ME conflicts.
actually, according to UAE government spox, Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at the UAE and most of them have been intercepted.
They continue to fire them and one or two gets through; no air defense system is perfect.
It is hard to believe anyone would want to get on a jetliner in the UAE right now.
Hmmm, Shi'ite fanatics sending bombs at neighboring Sunni states...so what's different from the last 1400 years?
According to the NYTimes, a split between the Iranian civilian leadership and that of the military seems to be developing, leading to back-and-forth statements and actions.
Terrible news for Nonstop Dan, who is "stranded" in Singapore because there are no business or first class seats available.
lol
The irony is that Qatar is cancelling far more flights
There are multiple countries with air defense systems that are intercepting alot of Iranian missiles (even as some get through) but it seems like the UAE is more in the crosshairs than other countries - perhaps partly because they are so much closer to Iran
Doha and Kuwait are closer to main parts of Iran/Tehran than UAE so easier to hit from major US bases there into Iran, therefore must be riskier for Doha flights. I did notice that Etihad seems to be operating more flights than Emirates presumably that Abu Dhabi slightly further out than Dubai.
Well, no war in Atlanta, but it looks like Delta is cancelling the most flights after leaving passengers stranded on planes for 11 hours. Hopefully, the forthcoming fines will be big enough to icentivize Delta to fix its operational disaster at ATL.
The final cries of a dying beast.
Five years from now this'll be a distant memory when flying Iran Air's 787 business class suites with doors between LAX and Tehran.
Too early to say that.
It'll happen at some point. Imagine telling someone in 1944 that Japan would be known for cute cartoon stuffed animals 30 years later.
So much irony that the Dubai Free Trade Zone helped to smuggle many of the components used to make these weapons. The Sheik made his profit and now watches as those parts return to his city.
Makes no difference if Iran keeps firing at Israel. Rockets gonna rocket.
Its very clear what has played out....Iran can not beat the US, so they thought if they fired a bunch of missiles at the Gulf States then those countries would put pressure on the US to back down. Horrible miscalculation from a horrible country.
Well - what happened in Summer 2025? Apparently the UAS could not beat Iran back then.
And Iran doesn't need to beat the USA. Their goal is to survive the initial wave of attacks. Israel military clearly can't sustain a long-haul conflict like Russia/Ukraine one - last year they could fight just over one week and essentially had to ask for piece. The USA bombings of Iran's nuclear facilities last year were too clearly...
Well - what happened in Summer 2025? Apparently the UAS could not beat Iran back then.
And Iran doesn't need to beat the USA. Their goal is to survive the initial wave of attacks. Israel military clearly can't sustain a long-haul conflict like Russia/Ukraine one - last year they could fight just over one week and essentially had to ask for piece. The USA bombings of Iran's nuclear facilities last year were too clearly a "negotiated match". By now already 90% of Iranian missiles and drones are hitting targets in Israel - which means that air defenses are a thing of the past from both sides.
I'd say - now the main question is whether or not Trump and US military are capable of conducting this operation for quite a few months at least. That may or may not be the case given shortage of ammunition.
Spouting out fake numbers doesn't make things true.
Just wipe these camel-humpers off the map.
France and some Gulf countries have mutual defense pacts with the UAE. The other Gulf countries are being attacked so they have to fight for themselves but France should bomb Iran, 10 targets for every target that Iran hits in Dubai. So far, at least twice DXB has been attacked so Paris should bomb 20 Iranian targets. (If DXB were to be destroyed, that would count as maybe 500 targets because there are many buildings...
France and some Gulf countries have mutual defense pacts with the UAE. The other Gulf countries are being attacked so they have to fight for themselves but France should bomb Iran, 10 targets for every target that Iran hits in Dubai. So far, at least twice DXB has been attacked so Paris should bomb 20 Iranian targets. (If DXB were to be destroyed, that would count as maybe 500 targets because there are many buildings and airplanes. That should result in 5000 Iranian targets hit).
Your logic is about as smooth brained as it gets. You have absolutely no clue what you’re on about. France has no defense pact with the UAE you absolute clown.
It’s in the EU’s best interest to not interfere in this war.
And where will the USA get so many bombs? Arsenals aren't infinite.
By the time all of this is over, Emirates will be remembered fondly like Pan Am is today
Not really. This'll all be over in a few weeks and EK will benefit massively from being on the doorstep of a country of 90 million when they open up to the rest of the world.
EK was flying to Tehran earlier without any issues. Quite an few airlines did.
Correct, but far, far below the levels of capacity that they could if Iran opens up economically and trades with the US, not to mention all the members of the diaspora who will feel more comfortable traveling back in much larger numbers.
@Yoshi
Yup, will all be over by Christmas lol
They won't fall. Ugh.....
I imagine field commanders without clear instructions are “firing at will” until they’ve exhausted their supply, they will then go home.
Since much of their command and control network has been annihilated the commanders are carrying out attacks independently. I really don't think anyone is effectively in 'control'. Just imagine that hitting right next to a fully fueled a380?! I doubt they will stop while they're still being bombed...
I think Iran will stop shooting missiles when they run out of missiles/drones or they have all been destroyed by the US and/or Israel. I don't think anyone should trust anything coming from the Iranian regime.
That said, yes, it is very dangerous for aircraft in the region. Concern for the potential shooting down of an airliner (by either/any side) is real.
The thing is - there is a mass production of drones and missiles in Iran's underground facilities. Then there are Russia, China who can help with ammunition and intelligence data (and that is happening). Russia alone now manufactures between 4x and 10x (depends on type) of ammunition than the whole NATO combined together.
Even Ukraine, which had 1/3 of Iranian population (and now like 1/5th) - has underground manufacturing facilities for drones, and it's...
The thing is - there is a mass production of drones and missiles in Iran's underground facilities. Then there are Russia, China who can help with ammunition and intelligence data (and that is happening). Russia alone now manufactures between 4x and 10x (depends on type) of ammunition than the whole NATO combined together.
Even Ukraine, which had 1/3 of Iranian population (and now like 1/5th) - has underground manufacturing facilities for drones, and it's been over 4 years as it sustains airstrikes of the intensity comparable to those Iran gets now.
Let me rephrase that in the correct order: They first promised to stop and apologized, but then they continued to attack and sent more than 100 drones just today to the United Arab Emirates.
The message from the President was prercorded.
They said - as long as there is no threat to Iran from those countries. US military installations are still a legitimate goal for them.
So pretty much doing what Israel has been doing all this time except they don't apologise and say it's Dubai's fault.
Fake video. Long time reader but WTF?