Dubai-based South African restaurateur Nicky van der Walt has described explosions in the city on Saturday, as Iran retaliated against attacks by the US and Israel, as “surreal, completely crazy”.
Van der Walt, who lives in Dubai with his wife, Lee-Ann Liebenberg, and their three children, said the biggest shock came when an explosion went off as he was speaking to his father on the phone.
He and his family had gone to visit South African friends who live in Jebel Ali, which is close to a base for American naval forces in neighbouring Abu Dhabi that was struck by Iranian missiles.
“While we were there my dad called. Obviously he had been following what was going on and was freaking out and wanted to check we were OK,” Van Der Walt told The Sunday Times last night.
“While I was talking to him and telling him everything was OK, the first bomb went off. The explosion was near my head, as I was trying to calm my dad down. Luckily it was an interception.”
Over the course of the day he witnessed two more explosions.
It’s completely surreal. I’ve never experienced anything like this. But we’re completely safe and OK, not going into lockdown. The Iron Dome is working well. Dubai was ready for this. They weren’t caught with their pants down
— Nicky van der Walt, Dubai-based South African restaurateur
One projectile struck outside a hotel in Dubai’s plush Palm Jumeirah district. It’s a popular hangout spot for Van Der Walt’s family on weekends, close to his restaurant, Tang, which overlooks the famed Dubai Fountain.
“It’s completely surreal. I’ve never experienced anything like this,” Van Der Walt said. “But we’re completely safe and OK, not going into lockdown. The Iron Dome is working well. Dubai was ready for this. They weren’t caught with their pants down.”
The US and Israel targeted Iran’s top leaders in their attacks and called for the overthrow of its government, while Iran responded with missiles fired at Israel and neighbouring Gulf countries.
President Donald Trump, who in the biggest foreign policy gamble of his presidency launched the war against a foe Washington has jousted with for generations, said the strikes were aimed at ending a security threat and ensuring Iran could not develop a nuclear weapon.
He called on Iranian security forces to lay down their weapons and invited Iranians to topple their government once the bombing ended.
Tehran called the strikes, which began in the morning hours and hit targets in different areas of the country, unprovoked and illegal. Iran’s Al-Alam television said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — yet to be heard from by Saturday evening — was due to give a speech soon.
In cities across Iran, explosions caused widespread panic. Residents rushed to collect children from school and flee areas that might be targeted.
Iran responded by launching missiles at Israel and at several Gulf Arab allies of the US that host American bases.
Iran issued a warning to shipping that the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage through which around a fifth of global oil consumption passes, had been closed. Traders expected a sharp jump in oil prices. Airlines cancelled flights in the Middle East.
Tehran promised a stronger response to come, with a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, Ebrahim Jabbari, saying it had so far used only “scrap missiles” and would soon unveil unforeseen weapons.
The UN Security Council was due to meet in New York on Saturday. Secretary-general Antonio Guterres called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Israel’s military said its pilots had hit hundreds of targets throughout Iran, including strategic defence systems already damaged in strikes last year. It said three sites where leaders had been meeting were struck simultaneously, and several senior figures were killed.
Iran’s defence minister, Amir Nasirzadeh, and Revolutionary Guards commander, Mohammed Pakpour, were killed in the Israeli attacks, three sources familiar with the matter said.
The first wave of strikes in what the Pentagon named “Operation Epic Fury” mainly targeted Iranian officials, a source familiar with the matter said.
An Israeli official said Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian were both targeted, but the result of the strikes was not clear. A source with knowledge of the matter had earlier told Reuters that Khamenei was not in Tehran and had been transferred to a secure location.
An Iranian source close to the establishment said several senior commanders in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and political officials had been killed.
In addition, a girls’ primary school in the southern Iranian town of Minab was hit, killing 85 people, according to the local prosecutor cited by state media.
In a video message published on social media, Trump cited Washington’s decades-old dispute with Iran and Iranian attacks, dating back to the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran during the 1979 Islamic revolution that brought the clerics to power.
In Israel, sirns and mobile phone warnings sent Israelis rushing to air raid shelters as Iran launched a series of missile barrages. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties.
Trump said the aim was “eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime”. He urged Iranians to stay sheltered because “bombs will be dropping everywhere”, but added: “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
Iran’s clerical leaders were already in a difficult position after mass anti-government demonstrations in January, which led to a crackdown in which thousands of people were killed in the worst domestic unrest since the era of the 1979 revolution. Protesters had again taken to the streets in recent days in remembrance of those killed the previous month.
Israeli military operations over the past two years have already killed some of Iran’s senior military officials and severely weakened several of Tehran’s once-feared proxy forces across the Middle East.
After Israel pounded Iran in a 12-day air war last June joined by the US, the two countries had warned they would strike again if Iran pressed ahead with its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. The threats were backed up in recent weeks by a US military build-up in the region, even as Iranian and US officials held nuclear talks.
In Israel, sirens and mobile phone warnings sent Israelis rushing to air raid shelters as Iran launched a series of missile barrages. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties.
Loud booms sounded in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, an oil producer and close US ally, and several blasts were heard in Dubai.
Bahrain said the service centre of the US Fifth Fleet had been subjected to a missile attack. Video footage showed a thick grey plume of smoke rising from near the island state’s coastline.
Qatar said it had downed all missiles targeting the country and that it had a right to respond. Kuwait confirmed a missile attack on a US military base there.
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