Iran threatens UAE with sweeping strikes if it makes any 'unwise' move

The United Nations is still trying to understand US statements that the Strait of Hormuz is open, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.

“There’s not much clarity at this point, but what we do not want to see is a return to outright kinetic activity in this area,” Dujarric told UN reporters.

Reports of an exchange of fire in the strait and the United Arab Emirates intercepting Iranian missiles were concerning, he said.

“We need to see a return of what has been centuries of practice of common law, which is freedom of navigation in these waters,” Dujarric said.

The Israeli army is monitoring the situation and remains on full alert, a military source told Iran International.

The source said there had been no change to the Home Front Command’s instructions.

Air defense systems and offensive capabilities remain on full alert, unchanged since the decision on the ceasefire with Iran, the source said.

The source said updates would be provided if there were any changes to the instructions.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Iran’s attack on the United Arab Emirates amounted to a renewal of its war against US and Israeli allies in the region.

“The United Arab Emirates, our strategic ally, has just been attacked by Iran,” Bennett said on X.

“This is, in effect, a declaration of the renewal of Iran’s war against the allies of the United States and Israel across the region,” he added.

Bennett said the regional alliance was vital to Israel’s security and to what he called moderate partners in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf.

“Iran continues to try to intimidate the region and poses a threat to global security,” he said.

“We stand with our ally,” he added.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it received a report of an incident 14 nautical miles west of Mina Saqr in the United Arab Emirates, with a third party reporting that a vessel was on fire.

UKMTO said the vessel had requested other vessels in the area to keep a safe distance, adding that the cause of the fire had not been verified.

The Foremans, both in their 50s, were arrested in January 2025 while on a motorcycle trip through Iran. Their family says they had valid visas, a licensed guide, and an approved itinerary. They deny the espionage charges.

The Foremans are being held in separate wings of Tehran’s Evin prison, which rights groups have long criticized over alleged torture and inhumane conditions.

A source familiar with the matter said visits between political prisoners and their families were cut off after the Iran-US-Israel war began, with cabin visits restored for some prisoners only in the past two to three weeks.

The source said prisoners with relatives also held in Evin had been allowed ward-to-ward visits.

But when Lindsay and Craig Foreman asked prison officials on Sunday to see each other, they were told they had been banned from both in-person and cabin visits for three weeks because of their BBC World interview, the source said.

Lindsay Foreman said in the interview that her situation was frightening, adding that while it would one day end for them, “for these people it may never end.”

Craig Foreman said four of his cellmates had been taken away for their sentences to be carried out since he was transferred to Evin, with news of their executions broadcast on state television the following day.

Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has previously said it was “deeply concerned” by the couple’s detention and that it continued to raise the case directly with Iranian authorities.

Rights groups and Western governments have long accused Iran of engaging in so-called “hostage diplomacy” by detaining foreign nationals to gain political or economic concessions, an allegation Tehran rejects, saying it faces Western intelligence infiltration.