US allies face drone attacks as Iran warns ‘restraint is over’
• UAE, Kuwait intercept drones; projectile causes fire on cargo ship near Qatar coast
• S. Korea confirms vessel severely damaged
• Tehran threatens strong response if its vessels are attacked; Qatar warns using Hormuz as a ‘pressure card’ worsens crisis
• Riyadh condemns attacks on Gulf states
TEHRAN: Multiple allies of the United States, including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea and Kuwait, reported facing drone attacks on Sunday as Tehran warned the US it would no longer hold back from retaliatory strikes in the region.
Qatar’s defence ministry said a freighter arriving in the country’s waters from Abu Dhabi was hit by a drone on Sunday, northeast of the port of Mesaieed. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said the bulk carrier reported being struck by an unknown projectile.
“There was a small fire that has been extinguished, there are no casualties. There is no reported environmental impact,” the centre said.
The United Arab Emirates accused Iran of being behind an attack that targeted its territory, marking what would be only the second alleged strike on Gulf countries since a month-old ceasefire began.
“UAE air defence systems successfully engaged two UAVs launched from Iran,” the defence ministry said in a social media post.
Kuwait also reported an attempted attack.
“At dawn today, the armed forces detected a number of hostile drones in Kuwaiti airspace, which were dealt with in accordance with established procedures,” the Kuwaiti military posted.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Qatar strike, but Iran’s Fars news agency reported that the targeted bulk carrier “was sailing under a US flag and belonged to the United States”.
S. Arabia condemns attacks
Saudi Arabia’s ministry of foreign affairs expressed the kingdom’s strongest condemnation of the treacherous targeting of the lands and territorial waters of the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait, and reiterated Riyadh’s support for all measures taken by the sisterly Gulf states to safeguard their security and stability.
In a social media post, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, Ebrahim Rezaei, warned Washington of escalating consequences.
“Our restraint is over as of today,” Rezaei said. “Any attack on our vessels will trigger a strong and decisive Iranian response against American ships and bases.”
The threats follow an incident on Friday when a US fighter jet fired on and disabled two Iran-flagged vessels in the Gulf of Oman to prevent them from reaching Iranian ports.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned that any attack on its commercial vessels will result in a heavy strike on American centres and enemy ships.
Iranian army official Mohammad Akraminia said that countries complying with US sanctions “will certainly face difficulties crossing the strait”.
Simultaneously, Tehran’s military chief, Ali Abdollahi, met Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and received “new directives and guidance for the continuation of operations to confront the enemy”, state television reported.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s foreign ministry reported on Sunday that its cargo vessel, the HMM Namu, was hit by an unidentified aircraft in the Strait of Hormuz last Monday.
Spokesman Park Il said two aircraft struck the port-side ballast tank at one-minute intervals, causing a fire.
Park noted the damage spanned about 16.5 feet wide and extended roughly 23 feet into the hull. Tehran’s embassy in Seoul firmly rejected allegations regarding the involvement of its forces.
Qatar’s PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi in a phone call that using the strait as a pressure card “only serves to deepen the crisis”.
Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2026
