Iran suicide drone attack on Dubai’s famous Palm Jumeirah hurts four as kamikaze UAVs also hit Bahrain skyscrapers 

Four people were hurt in an Iranian suicide drone attack on Dubai’s famous Palm Jumeirah hotel, as Tehran launched UAV attacks on Western enclaves across the Middle East today in retaliation for US air strikes.

The Palm Jumeirah Fairmont hotel was hit by a Shahed suicide drone launched from Iran hours after US and Israeli air strikes hit Tehran.

Suicide drones also attacked residential skyscrapers in Bahrain, with missiles launched from Iran hitting US bases in Qatar, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi.

Dramatic footage and images captured the moment the Palm Jumeirah Fairmont Hotel in Dubai was hit by a Shahed drone, with an Iranian suicide drone also striking a tower block in Bahrain.

The Dubai media office confirmed four people were injured in the strikes on the hotel, which is popular among Western tourists, with witnesses saying ambulances had rushed to the scene.

‘Dubai Civil Defence has confirmed that the resulting fire is now under control. Four individuals sustained injuries and have been transferred to medical facilities,’ it added.

Video footage also showed the moment a high-rise building in Bahrain, believed to be the luxury apartment building Era View Tower, was struck by an Iranian suicide drone, hours after strikes targeted the major US naval base in the state.

A huge fireball erupted towards the top of the high-rise building, with debris scattering and falling onto the surrounding area below. It is not known at this stage if there are any casualties.

Iran also hit US’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain, with a huge mushroom of smoke captured billowing into the sky following an explosion.

 

The US and Israel launched strikes on targets in several Iranian cities on Saturday, including the offices of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, sending explosions and plumes of smoke over the capital, Tehran. 

Israeli media outlet Channel 12 said unnamed Israeli sources revealed there were ‘growing indications’ the leader had been killed during this morning’s air strikes or that he was ‘hurt at the very least’.

Iran has so far launched revenge attacks across the region, with missile strikes in Israel, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudia Arabia.

Videos posted on social media show the famous Palm Jumeirah Fairmont Hotel – which is popular with tourists – on fire, with plumes of smoke billowing into the sky, something Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper condemned in a call with her Emirati counterpart.

The sheer speed of the missile – which is said to be able to fly at least five times faster than the speed of sound – can be heard on video footage cutting through the air before blasting into the hotel. 

Located a half-an-hour drive from Dubai International Airport, rooms at the opulent hotel average £292 a night, while guests wanting a more upmarket stay in the presidential suite can spend closer to £828 a night.

The hotel is located on Dubai’s famed man-made island The Palm.

Hundreds of thousands of British nationals are currently thought to be present in the Gulf. 

British influencer Will Bailey, who has just landed in Dubai and was sitting poolside at the hotel, said: ‘That was metres away from us. Look at this.

‘That is the Fairmont hotel in Dubai. Oh my God, oh my God.’

He added: ‘Oh my days, over the beach club is f****** mental. Literally directly above us. That is insane. They were so loud.

‘I have no words. In the safest city in the world. Wow.’

Meanwhile Samantha, who lives in Dubai Hills, saw the missile pass over her head some 26km away from the hotel.

‘It’s panic. Total panic. I saw it passing above my head’, she said, speaking to the Mail. ‘I’m stressed out because any one little part of a missile could come on top of our building.’

And with the United Arab Emirates having said it has now ‘partially and temporarily’ closed its airspace as a precaution, according to state media, Brits trying to flee the country have found themselves stuck.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mr Khamenei has not been heard from since the US and Israel launched their dual attack on Iran on Saturday morning.

Israeli sources said today that President Donald Trump specifically targeted Iran’s supreme leader in its first wave of joint missile strikes with Israel.

Both Mr Khamenei’s palace and compound in Tehran are reported to have been destroyed in today’s operation, but Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghch claimed the Ayatollah is alive ‘as far as I know’.

Video footage from Tehran shows smoke billowing into the sky above the compound this morning, which is understood to be used as his official residence in the Iranian capital.

Screams and giggles could be heard ringing out from a nearby rooftop as onlookers watched the blast. ‘Oh my God they hit it. They struck it. Oh my God,’ one woman shouts.

It comes after it was reported that the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and ‘architect’ of the regime’s brutal crackdown against protesters is already said to have been killed in the strikes.

Israeli sources said they believed that IRGC commander General Mohammad Pakpour has been eliminated, adding that several senior military officials are understood to have been killed.

Today, the US and Israel jointly launched a wave of strikes across Iran, including Tehran, Bushehr, Qom, Karaj, Kermanshah and Isfahan. 

In the capital, Khamenei’s palace, compound, the Ministry of Intelligence and Ministry of Defence were all affected.

Elsewhere, they hit southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and an area said to be housing Iran-supporting militia groups in al-Nasr, Iraq.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump told the Ayatollah to either ‘surrender or die’ as he announced the US had launched strikes across several cities in Iran.

He said: ‘To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity.

‘Or in the alternative, face certain death. So, lay down your arms. You will be treated fairly with total immunity, or you will face certain death.’

Iran said there would be a ‘crushing response’ and launched missiles across Israel including in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem.

In a statement, the country’s military said that all US ‘bases, resources and assets’ are ‘legitimate targets’.

Dramatic footage showed the moment Iran hit US’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain, with a huge mushroom of smoke billowing into the sky following an explosion.

Iran also targeted US infrastructure at Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE, Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and areas in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, sparking fears the Middle East may now be on the brink of all-out war.

Explosions have also been heard in the Syrian city of Damascus and in the city of Sidon in southern Lebanon, apparently as a result of Israeli missile interceptions.

The Operation has been named ‘Lion’s Roar’ by Israel and ‘Epic Fury’ by the US Department of Defense, which Trump has renamed the Department of War. 

It is understood that the UK did not participate in the attacks, and Sir Keir Starmer said Iran must ‘refrain from indiscriminate military strikes’ in a joint statement with the leaders of France and Germany, condemning the country’s attacks on its neighbours.

UK citizens have been urged to shelter by the British embassy in Doha, while Qatar also warned residents via an alert to stay indoors and away from military bases.

The UK withdrew its diplomatic staff from Iran on Friday due to security worries, while staff in the British embassy in Tel Aviv and their dependents have been moved to another location by the Foreign Office. 

The UK Government said its priority is ‘the safety of UK nationals’ in the Middle East but that it is ‘ready to protect our interests’.

A Government spokesperson said: ‘Iran must never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and that is why we have continually supported efforts to reach a negotiated solution.

‘Our immediate priority is the safety of UK nationals in the region and we will provide them with consular assistance, available 24/7.

‘As part of our longstanding commitments to the security of our allies in the Middle East, we have a range of defensive capabilities in the region, which we have recently bolstered. We stand ready to protect our interests.

‘We do not want to see further escalation into a wider regional conflict.’

Meanwhile, Iran’s exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi has urged Iranians to prepare for an uprising and to take to the streets in the midst of the Islamic Republic’s collapse. 

He warned civilians to stay at home for now and to prepare to mobilise, ready for his instructions. 

Describing the US’s attacks as ‘humanitarian intervention’, he reminded security forces they had sworn to protect the Iranian people and not IS and its leaders. 

He urged that if they did not switch sides, they would ‘sink’ alongside the current regime and Supreme Leader Mr Khamenei. 

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also warned the Iranian regime ‘must not be armed with nuclear weapons’. 

‘My brothers and sisters, citizens of Israel, a short time ago, Israel and the United States embarked on an operation to remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran. 

He said the regime had ‘spilled our blood’, and ‘murdered many Americans, and massacred its own people.’ 

‘This murderous terrorist regime must not be armed with nuclear weapons that would allow it to threaten all of humanity,’ he said. 

‘Our joint action will create the conditions for the courageous Iranian people to take their destiny into their own hands.

‘The time has come for all segments of the Iranian people – the Persians, the Kurds, the Azeris, the Baluchis, and the Ahwazis – to throw off the yoke of tyranny and bring about a free and peaceful Iran.

‘Together we will stand, together we will fight, and together we will ensure the eternity of Israel.’

In Tehran, witnesses heard the first blast by Mr Khamenei’s office on Saturday morning. Iranian state television later reported the explosion, without offering a cause.

There have also been unverified reports of explosions in other locations across Iran including Isfahan, the third biggest city, and Tabriz.

More explosions struck Iran’s capital after Israel said it was attacking the country. Authorities have offered no casualty information from the strikes.

Meanwhile, Iran shut down its airspace and mobile phone services were cut as internet access dropped by over half, according to NetBlocks.

Israel has warned its own citizens to prepare to take cover if the Iranians fight back, with sirens already being heard across Israel.

The country’s Defense Force said: ‘This is a proactive alert to prepare the public for the possibility of missiles being launched toward the State of Israel.’

Airspace above Israel was closed to civilian flights following the strike this morning.

The explosions come as tensions rose between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme. 

Earlier today, Trump denounced the regime as the ‘world’s number one stage sponsor of terror’, which had recently killed ‘tens of thousands of its own people as they protested’. 

‘It has always been the police of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon,’ the US president added.

‘I will say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon.’

‘This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the US armed forces,’ he later added. 

He then turned his address to the ‘great proud people of Iran’, saying it was their ‘hour of freedom’ that was at hand. 

Warning them to stay sheltered and at home, he urged them to ‘take’ their government after the US operation is over.  

‘This will probably be your only chance for generations,’ he said. ‘For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it.’

‘No president was willing to do what I was willing to do tonight. Now you have a president who is willing to give you what you want.

‘So let’s see how you respond. America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force. 

‘Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is in your reach. 

‘This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass. May god bless the brave men and women of America’s armed forces. 

‘May god bless the United States of America. May god bless you all.’