UAE Airspace Stays Open as Saudi Arabia Intercepts Missiles and Drones; Trump Rules Out Iran Deal
Why It MattersOpen UAE airspace alongside disrupted Saudi services leaves Gulf business-jet and charter operators routing around shifting security assessments, with demand and routings varying sharply by country.
UAE airspace remains operational and flights continue, though airlines are adjusting services in response to changing security assessments, on day 257 of the US/Israel-Iran conflict. Iranian-operated flights to the UAE remain suspended, and direct UAE-Israel flights face security and operational restrictions. Cancellations have affected Riyadh and Dammam, while some flights to Jeddah, Medina and other Saudi cities still operate.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthi movement said on Thursday it intercepted drones in the Riyadh region and in eastern Saudi Arabia. It also reported destroying two ballistic missiles targeting western Saudi Arabia on Wednesday night and intercepting two more drones in the south and around Mecca. Saudi civil defence said debris from the two intercepted ballistic missiles fell in Sabuhah village in the Mecca Region. The British Embassy in Riyadh and the British Consulate-General in Jeddah advised British nationals to move indoors and shelter in secure buildings when instructed.
US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Thursday that Washington does not need an agreement with Tehran and that he was directing Vice President JD Vance to focus on domestic anti-fraud efforts rather than negotiations. A Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday had said Vance was considering face-to-face talks with a senior Iranian security official. Mohsen Rezaei, a senior Iranian security figure and former commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, wrote on X on Wednesday that if the US launches another war against Iran, every military base involved, from West Asia to Europe, would be a legitimate target.
Israel's caretaker Defence Minister Israel Katz said the outgoing government does not need approval from opposition leaders or legal authorities to order fresh military operations, after opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot urged caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to show restraint. Separately, a jury at Woolwich Crown Court in London convicted Iranian men Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, of assisting a foreign intelligence service on behalf of the Iranian state by spying on journalists at Persian-language broadcaster Iran International.
