PDB Afternoon Bulletin | May 12th, 2026: UAE Launches Strikes In Iran & Pakistan’s Secret Iran Assistance
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It's Tuesday, the 12th of May. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, new reporting claims that the United Arab Emirates, the UAE, secretly joined the fight against Iran, launching direct strikes on Iranian territory as the Gulf conflict quietly widened behind the scenes. Later in the show, new reporting suggests Pakistan may have been quietly helping Iran protect military aircraft from possible U.S. strikes, even as Islamabad attempted to broker diplomacy behind the scenes. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. The United Arab Emirates has reportedly been secretly carrying out military strikes against Iran, a major development that could mark one of the biggest shifts in Gulf politics in decades.
According to new reporting from The Wall Street Journal, the UAE has quietly emerged as an active combatant in the war against Tehran, conducting direct attacks on Iranian targets, even while publicly trying to project an image of restraint and regional stability. One of those strikes reportedly hit a major oil refinery on Iran's Levan Island back in early April. That attack sparked a massive fire and knocked much of the facility offline for months. And that's significant because Levan isn't just some remote island in the Persian Gulf. It's one of Iran's key oil export hubs, sitting along critical shipping lanes near the Strait of Hormuz and helping handle a sizable portion of the country's energy infrastructure and crude exports.
That refinery strike reportedly happened right around the same time that President Trump was publicly announcing a ceasefire after the five-week air campaign against Iran. In other words, while the world believed the conflict was beginning to cool down, one of America's closest Gulf allies was apparently still launching attacks inside Iranian territory. Now, this won't surprise you, but publicly, the Emiratis are staying quiet. The UAE foreign ministry declined to comment directly on the reports, but notably, they also didn't deny them. Instead, officials pointed back to earlier statements asserting the country's right to respond militarily to hostile acts. And from the sound of it, Washington isn't exactly upset.
According to the Journal report, the White House quietly welcomed participation from the UAE and other Gulf states willing to join the fight against the Iranian regime. Now, before the war began, Gulf Arab states repeatedly insisted they would not allow their territory or airspace to be used for attacks on Tehran.
What recent actions has the UAE taken against Iran?
The Gulf monarchies wanted to avoid getting dragged into a regional war. But Iran's strategy of striking targets in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the region appears to have backfired. Rather than intimidating the Gulf states into distancing themselves from Washington and Israel, Tehran's missile and drone campaign may have pushed at least one Gulf power into actively joining the fight. And it makes sense that the UAE would be the one to do it. According to reports, Iran launched more than 2,800 missiles and drones at the UAE during the conflict, more than any other country, including Israel. Those attacks reportedly hammered the Emiratis economically. Air traffic was disrupted, tourism took a hit, property markets weakened, layoffs and furloughs reportedly followed as the country's image of stability and safety came under pressure.
And that matters enormously for the UAE. This is a country whose entire economic model depends on international investment, global tourism, expatriate workers, and the perception that Dubai and Abu Dhabi are among the safest business hubs in the Middle East. According to Gulf officials cited in the report, Emirati leadership increasingly came to view Iran not simply as a geopolitical rival, but as a rogue actor actively threatening the foundation of the country's economic future. And militarily, the UAE is far more capable than many people realize. The country fields one of the most advanced air forces in the region, operating French Mirage fighters, advanced F-16 jets, airborne surveillance systems, drones, and aerial refueling aircraft.
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Chapters
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