Abu Dhabi suspended operations at the Habshan gas complex on Friday morning after falling debris from intercepted Iranian missiles sparked a fire at the facility, the Abu Dhabi Media Office announced in a post on X. The Habshan complex, operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and described by Bloomberg as the UAE's largest natural gas processing facility, has a capacity of 6.1 billion standard cubic feet per day, according to MEED and ADNOC's own published figures. It was the second time in 15 days that the same facility had been forced to shut down due to Iranian missile or drone activity. The first closure was on March 19.
In a separate but simultaneous incident, debris from intercepted projectiles injured 12 people in the Ajban area of Abu Dhabi. The Abu Dhabi Media Office confirmed the injuries, stating that six Nepali nationals sustained minor to moderate injuries, five Indian nationals were also injured, and one Nepali national sustained serious injuries. No UAE citizens were reported among the casualties. The UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned what it described as an Iranian terrorist attack targeting both the Habshan gas facility and the Bab oil field.
What Habshan Is and Why It Matters
The Habshan complex, located in the Abu Dhabi emirate's inland desert region approximately 240 kilometers from the capital, is not a peripheral facility. It is the central hub through which gas produced at both onshore and offshore fields in Abu Dhabi is processed before being sold domestically and exported internationally.
MEED, the Middle East business intelligence publication, describes Habshan as having a processing capacity of 6.1 billion cubic feet per day, comprising five plants and 14 processing units. It receives gas feedstock from multiple onshore fields, including the Bab field that was also targeted on Friday, and processes it into sales gas, condensate, and sulfur for export and domestic consumption.
The UAE is a major LNG exporter, operating Das Island's LNG export terminal fed by gas processed at Habshan and related facilities. When Habshan shuts down, the gas supply chain feeding UAE LNG exports is interrupted upstream. Reuters reported in late March, following the first Habshan shutdown, that ADNOC Gas had adjusted LNG output in response to shipping and production disruptions linked to the ongoing conflict.
The disruption is not purely a UAE problem. Asian LNG buyers — particularly those in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan — depend on UAE LNG supplies as part of a diversified import portfolio. Twice in 15 days, that supply has been interrupted at its source by Iranian munitions or their debris.
The Pattern of Iranian Strikes on the UAE
Today's incident is part of a systematic Iranian campaign against Gulf state energy infrastructure that began on February 28 when Operation Epic Fury was launched. A Wikipedia article specifically tracking Iranian strikes on the UAE records multiple incidents since the war's start, including:
A fire at the Ruwais Industrial Complex in Abu Dhabi, which houses the country's largest oil refinery. That fire caused ADNOC to shut its refinery, a facility that would otherwise process 922,000 barrels of oil per day, according to Wikipedia's compilation of reporting on UAE strike events.
The March 19 Habshan incident — the first shutdown — in which falling debris from intercepted missiles caused the same facility to close. That closure was resolved and operations restored before today's second incident, according to Reuters reporting from late March.
Today's April 3 strike appears to be the most consequential individual targeting of UAE civilian energy infrastructure since the war began, combining the Habshan gas facility shutdown, the Bab oil field targeting, and the first significant civilian injuries from Iranian fire on UAE territory in this war cycle.
The Human Toll: Foreign Workers in the Crossfire
The 12 people injured in Ajban are all migrant workers — six from Nepal and five from India, with one Nepali national in serious condition. None were UAE nationals, reflecting the UAE's demographic reality: approximately 88 percent of the UAE's resident population are non-citizens, with South Asian migrant workers forming the largest single group. They staff construction sites, gas processing plants, logistics facilities, and industrial complexes throughout Abu Dhabi emirate.
Ajban is an industrial and agricultural area south of Abu Dhabi city, home to warehousing facilities, farms, and workers' accommodation. The debris that injured these individuals fell during what the Abu Dhabi Media Office described as a "successful interception by air defense systems" — meaning the intercepting missiles destroyed the incoming projectile, but its fragments and the fragments of the interceptor itself came down over a populated area.
CBS News reported that the Abu Dhabi government specifically noted one Nepali national sustained a "major injury" as debris rained down in the Ajban area following the interception of "dozens of Iranian missiles and drones." That plural — dozens of missiles and drones in a single salvo — indicates the scale of the Iranian assault that preceded this morning's incidents.
The UAE's Strategic Position in the War
The UAE occupies an unusually delicate position in this conflict. It has not joined the U.S.-Israel coalition, hosts significant U.S. military assets at Al Dhafra Air Base, maintains diplomatic and economic relationships with Iran, and is simultaneously one of Iran's primary targets for energy infrastructure disruption.
The UAE's foreign minister condemned today's strikes in the strongest terms — "terrorist attacks" — while stopping well short of any declaration that could draw the country into formal belligerence. This mirrors the UAE's posture throughout the 35-day conflict: absorb the hits, defend with air defenses, condemn diplomatically, but stay out of the shooting war.
That posture is being tested. The Habshan facility has now been shut twice. The Ruwais refinery has been hit. Foreign workers are being injured on UAE soil. If another escalation damages Habshan more severely — or if a strike makes it through the air defenses and hits a populated area directly rather than through debris — the political pressure on Abu Dhabi to respond more forcefully, or to demand stronger U.S. protection, will increase substantially.
Context: Kuwait Also Hit This Morning
Friday's strikes on Abu Dhabi were not isolated. Al Jazeera reported that Kuwait's desalination plant and an oil refinery were also hit by missile and drone strikes on the same morning. Kuwait's military confirmed its air defenses were actively working to intercept incoming attacks. The pattern — simultaneous targeting of multiple Gulf state energy facilities — suggests a coordinated Iranian strike package rather than individual opportunistic attacks.
Iran has been explicit about its strategy: it has publicly stated that it will continue targeting the energy infrastructure of Gulf states it considers complicit in the U.S.-Israeli campaign, whether through hosting U.S. forces, allowing overflight, or providing diplomatic cover. The UAE hosts U.S. assets. Kuwait hosts U.S. logistics. Both have been repeatedly targeted.
The June 2025 "Twelve-Day War" — the prior U.S.-Israel military engagement with Iran — did not see Iranian strikes reach Abu Dhabi at this frequency. The current war, now entering its sixth week, has pushed Iranian retaliation geographically further into the Gulf than any prior conflict cycle.
What Comes Next for Habshan
When Habshan was shut on March 19, it was restored to operation within approximately four days, according to reporting from the UAE energy publication Mezha. That restart was achieved without full disclosure of the damage assessment. Today's second closure will require another damage assessment, containment of the fire, safety inspections, and a restart sequence across five plants and 14 processing units.
The timeline for restart depends on the severity of the fire damage, which has not been publicly disclosed. Operations are "suspended while authorities respond to a fire," per the official Abu Dhabi Crisis Management Center statement. No injuries at the facility itself have been reported.
The world's largest gas processing facility has been forced offline twice in two weeks. Its operator is a sovereign wealth fund-backed state oil company with the resources to rebuild and restart. But the message Iran is sending to the Gulf states that have not joined the coalition against it is increasingly hard to misread: the war's consequences will reach you regardless of which side you claim to be on.