Dubai airport is evacuated in drone attack as Israel launches fresh wave of strikes on Tehran: live updates

Dubai’s airport has been evacuated and completely closed following Iranian drone strikes.

Explosions were near Dubai’s International airport around 8am local time (4am GMT).

A fire burned close to the complex, and two emergency alerts were issued to passengers’ mobile phones.

Dubai authorities were quick to claim that there had been ‘no incident’ at the airport, but confirmed there had been a successful interception of a drone, with no injuries reported.

Damage likely from debris shot down in the drone attack was visible after the small fire began on the side of the passenger walkway at the busy Terminal 3, which handles Emirates flights.

All flights were suspended around 10am local time (6am GMT) and police cars blocked all entrances to the airport causing traffic chaos.

Other loud bangs were heard 30 miles away along the coast at Ras Al-Khaimah.

Airline Emirates said it has paused all flights to and from Dubai until further notice.

The war in Iran entered its second week on Saturday amid renewed uncertainty about how or when hostilities will end, as US President Donald Trump declared he would only accept Tehran’s ‘unconditional surrender’.

Trump’s comments on social media on Friday came hours after Iran’s president announced that unnamed countries had begun mediation efforts, raising the possibility, however faint, of a diplomatic resolution.

The administration has claimed it could achieve all its aims in Iran within four to six weeks, but the outcome Trump is hoping for remains unclear – defined as Iran no longer posing a threat.

But the conflict shows no sign of ending soon, with Trump threatening to unleash ‘the big one’ – thought to be a major escalation in strikes on the region.

On social media on Friday, Trump said:

There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!

After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.

By Shannon McGiugan

Iran has unleashed a series of furious retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, launching attacks on Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel in a series of assaults that have left the region in flames.

Drones have struck oil facilities and airports in Iraq as US-led troops gunned down several potential attacks over the Kurdish city of Erbil amid warnings of possible attacks on hotels.

A network of Iranian-backed Shia factions, Islamic Resistance in Iraq, claimed it launched an attack on a US military base near Baghdad Airport ‘in retribution’ for the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed last Saturday.

Meanwhile, Israel and Iran have continued to exchange fire overnight, with the IDF confirming it had launched a fresh wave of attacks against ‘terror targets’ in the Dahiyeh District of Beirut, Lebanon, as the war enters its eighth day.

Iran also fired its twenty-third round of strikes, a statement from IRGC-affiliated Tasmin news agency said as the IDF reported missiles coming from the region towards Israel had been detected.

Good morning and welcome to the Daily Mail’s live blog on the Iran conflict, as it enters its second week.

Strikes have continued across the Middle East overnight, as the US and Israel targeted Iran and Lebanon, while Iran launched drones at targets including in Israel, Dubai and Bahrain.

We’ll bring you all the latest updates throughout the day as we get them.