Iran Strikes the Gulf's Aluminum Industry: EGA Sustains 'Significant Damage,' Bahrain's Alba Hit Too

What Happened

On Saturday, March 28 — Day 29 of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran — the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched missile and drone strikes targeting two of the Gulf's largest aluminum producers: Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Aluminium Bahrain, known as Alba, in Bahrain.

EGA confirmed Saturday that its Al Taweelah production base in the Khalifa Economic Zone, Abu Dhabi, "sustained significant damage" in the attacks. Multiple EGA employees were injured, though the company said none of the injuries were life-threatening. EGA CEO Abdulnasser Bin Kalban said in a statement that the company was "deeply saddened" and actively assessing the damage.

Alba confirmed early Sunday that its own facilities were targeted the prior day. Two employees sustained mild injuries. Bahrain's state news agency reported the confirmation, which aligned with the IRGC's explicit claim of responsibility for striking both companies.

Why Iran Targeted These Facilities

The IRGC explicitly framed the strikes as retaliation for Israeli airstrikes on two Iranian steel plants. Iran published a list of targeted industrial facilities across the Gulf: Yehuda Steel (Israel), Hadeed (Saudi Arabia), Emirates Steel Arkan (UAE), KWT Steel (Kuwait), Qatar Steel (Qatar), and Foulath (Bahrain). The strikes on EGA and Alba represent the execution of that publicly declared target list.

The IRGC claimed, without providing evidence, that both companies have ties to U.S. military and aerospace firms. Reuters was unable to independently verify that claim.

Iran also issued advance warnings to workers at Gulf industrial facilities, telling employees at sites "that have American shareholders as well as heavy industries allied with the Zionist regime" to leave their workplaces immediately — a pattern of pre-strike warnings the IRGC has used throughout the war.

What EGA and Alba Actually Are

Emirates Global Aluminium is the largest industrial company in the UAE outside of oil and gas. Its Al Taweelah smelter produced 1.6 million metric tons of cast aluminum in 2025. The company also operates an adjacent alumina refinery at Al Taweelah that produced 2.4 million metric tons of alumina — the raw material used to make aluminum — last year. EGA has a second smelter at Jebel Ali in Dubai.

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) is one of the largest aluminum smelters in the world by a single-site measure. In early March, before it was struck, Alba had already shut down three smelting lines accounting for 19% of its capacity to preserve business continuity amid the Hormuz disruption. It had declared force majeure on March 4, stating it could not ship metal to customers due to the strait's effective closure.

Foulath Holding, the parent company of Bahrain Steel, declared its own force majeure on Saturday alongside the attack confirmation, citing "circumstances beyond the group's control" impacting operations and logistics.

Gulf aluminum producers collectively account for approximately 9% of global aluminum supply, according to Reuters and Newsweek reporting. The UAE is the fifth-largest aluminum producer in the world. China leads with roughly 60% of global supply, producing approximately 43 million metric tons in 2024. India and Russia each produce around 4 million metric tons.

The Compounding Squeeze: Hormuz Plus Strikes

Before the strikes, Gulf aluminum producers were already severely constrained. Since the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed following the outbreak of war on February 28, these companies have been unable to ship metal to world markets via their normal export routes. EGA had already announced it would reroute aluminum exports and raw material imports through the Omani port of Sohar to work around the strait's closure.

The physical destruction of production infrastructure at Al Taweelah layers damage on top of logistics disruption. The industry now faces both a shipping crisis and a production crisis simultaneously.

Aluminum prices had already begun climbing in response to the Hormuz closure. The combination of shipment paralysis and now direct facility damage presents a structural supply shock that will extend beyond the duration of the war. Even when the strait reopens — if it reopens — damaged smelting and refining infrastructure will require time to assess and repair before production returns to pre-war levels.

The Wider Industrial Target Pattern

Iran's strikes on Gulf industrial infrastructure have not been limited to aluminum. According to Newsweek reporting based on the EGA piece's broader context, the war has hit multiple industrial sectors across the Gulf:

• Drone strikes on Amazon data centers in the UAE and Bahrain raised alarms about cloud infrastructure resilience.
• Major banks — Citigroup and Standard Chartered — told Dubai staff to work from home; HSBC shuttered all branches in Qatar.
• Nickel producers in Indonesia, which rely on Gulf-sourced sulfur, face potential output cuts.
• Garment shipments from Bangladesh and India are stranded at airports.
• South Korea has warned chipmakers could face shortages of helium — necessary for MRI machines and semiconductor manufacturing.

On the same day as the EGA and Alba strikes, Kuwait's army reported intercepting 15 Iranian drones on March 28. The Kuwaiti army and UAE air defenses had been activating repeatedly throughout the week.

The Numbers That Matter

• 1.6 million metric tons — EGA's annual Al Taweelah aluminum output
• 2.4 million metric tons — EGA's annual alumina production at Al Taweelah
• 9% — Gulf's share of global aluminum supply
• 60% — China's share of global aluminum supply
• 19% — Alba smelting capacity already shut down before the strike, due to Hormuz logistics disruption
• March 4 — Date Alba first declared force majeure, citing inability to ship metal
• ~$4/gallon — Current U.S. average gas price; West Coast states approaching $6, per AAA
• $100+/barrel — Oil price as of March 28, per Newsweek reporting

What Comes Next

EGA said it had substantial metal stock on the water and on the ground at overseas locations when the conflict began, which provides some near-term buffer for customers. However, the damage assessment at Al Taweelah was still ongoing as of early March 29.

No timeline has been given for when production at Al Taweelah can resume. The facility produces both raw alumina and finished aluminum — if the refinery component is damaged, that extends the downstream production disruption.

Aluminum is a key input in construction, transportation, and renewable energy infrastructure — including solar panels and wind turbines. Sustained disruption in Gulf production, combined with Hormuz shipping paralysis, will pressure global aluminum prices and complicate supply chains for any sector dependent on the metal.

Bahrain's steel-producing Foulath Holding, whose parent declared force majeure Saturday, sits on the same IRGC published target list. Kuwait's KWT Steel and Qatar Steel remain on the list as well.