Passengers were taken into tunnels and flights were briefly suspended at Dubai airport after a drone strike appeared to hit nearby.
Several blasts were heard in the city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Saturday morning and the government said it had activated air defences, as Iranian strikes targeted the Gulf states in response to a joint Israel-US bombing campaign.
Passengers waiting for flights at Dubai international airport, the world’s busiest international travel hub, were ushered down into train tunnels at the sprawling airfield after the alert sounded.
Video footage shows an explosion and smoke appearing to emanate near the terminal. A whirring sound is heard just before the explosion in the footage.
The impact of the drone appeared to be near to a concourse of the airport.
Later that morning, long-haul carrier Emirates resumed operations, after briefly suspending all flights to and from Dubai.
A Dubai Airports spokesperson said: “Dubai Airports confirms partial resumption of operations from today, 7 March, with some flights operating out of Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International (DWC).
“Travellers are urged to not travel to the DXB or DWC unless they have been contacted by their airline that their flight is confirmed, as schedules continue to change.”
The spokesperson added that Dubai Airports would continue to monitor the situation.
Just before 9am UK time, Emirates wrote on X, formerly Twitter: Our post from 11:08am Dubai time regarding operational status is no longer current, and has been deleted to avoid causing unnecessary confusion.
“Emirates has resumed operations. Passengers who have confirmed bookings for this afternoon’s flights may proceed to the airport.
“This includes customers transiting in Dubai, if their connecting flight is also operating.”
Authorities have not explained if there was an interception or damage at the airport.
It came as Iran’s president on Saturday apologised for the country’s attacks on regional states, insisting that Tehran would halt them and suggesting they were caused by miscommunication in the ranks.
President Masoud Pezeshkian made the statement in a pre-recorded address aired by Iranian state television and added that the demand by the US for an unconditional surrender is a “dream that they should take to their grave”.
There were repeated attacks on Saturday morning on Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
There is no foreseeable end to the fighting. Donald Trump’s administration has approved a new £112 million arms sale to Israel after the US president said he would not negotiate with Iran without its “unconditional surrender”.
The president then said on Truth Social on Saturday that Iran will be “hit very hard” today.
He wrote: “Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behaviour, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time.”
US officials had also warned of a forthcoming bombing campaign they said would be the most intense yet in the week-long conflict.
Footage showed explosions and smoke rising over western Tehran as Israel said it had begun a broad wave of strikes.
Also early on Saturday, loud booms sounded in Jerusalem and incoming missiles from Iran had people heading to bomb shelters across Israel.
There were no immediate reports of casualties by Israel’s emergency services.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes have also targeted Beirut and Tehran.
Death tolls continued to rise on Saturday with at least 1,230 people killed in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials. Six US troops were reported killed.
