Iran attacked major oil facilities in the United Arab Emirates for a second day in a row on Tuesday — as the regime tries to disrupt a pipeline that is the biggest alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

The attacks on the UAE appear centered around the terminus of the Habshan-Fujairah oil pipeline, also known as the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP). 

The 235-mile pipeline, which opened in 2012, carries about more than 1 million barrels of oil per day and serves as a key transport route for crude in the region outside of the Strait of Hormuz.

The pipeline has notably seen an increase in use after crude stopped being transported by sea through the strait, with the conduit averaging 1.62 million barrels per day in March, Kpler analyst Johannes Rauball told Reuters. 

Should the pipeline be severely damaged, it would eliminate one of the top alternatives for oil producers in the Gulf attempting to avoid the disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. 

Taking out the pipeline would give Iran more control over the flow of crude in the region while also dealing a serious blow to the UAE, which is one of America and Israel’s top allies in the region.

The attack on the UAE also came just days after the country exited OPEC, the multi-nation body that exerts great control over the oil markets. 

The UAE had served as the fourth-largest producer of OPEC, which Iran is also a member of. 

“Air defense systems are currently responding to a missile threat,” UAE said Tuesday as it warned civilians to take shelter.

The assault on Monday saw Iran fire 15 missiles and drones at the UAE’s ships and facilities around the Strait of Hormuz, Abu Dhabi officials said. 

It was the first such attack since the cease-fire with Iran went into effect, with Tehran taking aim at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, the largest commercial storage hub for refined crude in the Middle East.

“These attacks constitute a dangerous escalation and an unacceptable transgression,” the UAE foreign ministry said of the initial strikes.  “We reserve the right to a full and legitimate response to attacks.”  

Iran was also accused of attacking a coastal town in Oman located just past the Strait of Hormuz, where the Islamic republic and the US traded fire. 

The recent attacks have threatened to unravel the cease-fire with Iran, where officials claim that Tehran will not lose control of the Strait of Hormuz. 

Both US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have said Iran’s latest attacks in the Gulf do not constitute an end to the cease-fire.  

Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the country’s parliament speaker, warned that his nation would enforce a new Iran-led order along the strait.   

“We know full well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America; while we have not even begun yet,” Ghalibaf wrote on X. 

World leaders have slammed the attacks on the UAE as unacceptable, with Europe, India, Lebanon and Pakistan calling on the strikes to end immediately. 

President Trump, meanwhile, declined to say whether Iran’s attacks are capable of restarting war during a Monday night interview. 

The president, however, noted that the war with Iran could last another two or three weeks. 

“We’ve taken out much of what we’d have to do, probably another two weeks, two weeks, maybe three weeks,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “And time is not of the essence for us.”