Explosions heard across the Middle East as Iran retaliates against U.S. attacks; flights disrupted

Explosions were heard across the Middle East on Saturday after the U.S. and Israel launched a “broad & joint operation” in Iran, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Iran retaliated with strikes on Israeli and U.S. bases across the Gulf.

Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates all confirmed they had intercepted missiles from Iran, each home to a U.S. base.

In the UAE, “the Ministry of Defense announced that the country was subjected today to a blatant attack by Iranian ballistic missiles, which was dealt with by the UAE air defenses with high efficiency and a number of missiles were successfully intercepted.”

CNBC’s team in the United Arab Emirates confirmed hearing a number of loud explosions in both the UAE’s capital city of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Qatar’s Ministry of Defense issued a statement saying the “State of Qatar expresses its strong condemnation of the targeting of Qatari territory with Iranian ballistic missiles, considering it a flagrant violation of its national sovereignty, a direct infringement on its security and territorial integrity, and an unacceptable escalation that threatens the security and stability of the region.”

Bahrain, home to U.S. Central Command confirmed via its news agency, “the services center affiliated with the Fifth Fleet was subjected to a missile attack.”

Saudi Arabia, who was not targeted by Iran, released a statement condemning and denouncing Iran’s attacks and “flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Jordan.” The Kingdom also confirmed its “readiness to place all its capabilities at their disposal in support of any measures they may undertake.”

U.S. Embassies across the region have instructed staff and Americans in countries to shelter-in-place (i.e., take cover) until further notice.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday in a statement on Truth Social “the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.”

The UAE confirmed a temporary closure of its airspace as an “exceptional precautionary measure” and flights have already been diverted around the major aviation hub of Dubai.

According to Dubai’s main long haul carrier Emirates, “Regional airspace closures have caused disruption to several Emirates flights.”

Air Arabia, another UAE carrier based out of Sharjah told CNBC “due to the evolving situation and airspace closures, our flights to Iran, Iraq and other parts of the region on 28 February have been cancelled. Several other flights may experience delays or rerouting as a result.”

Qatar Airways also confirmed a “temporary suspension of its flights to, and from, Doha due to the closure of Qatari airspace.”