Iranian drone attacks decline but continue striking Gulf allies

07:50

By: Dakir Madiha

Iranian drone attacks decline but continue striking Gulf allies

Iranian drone attacks have dropped sharply since the start of the conflict, according to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but Gulf countries continue to face strikes from Iranian unmanned aircraft targeting civilian and strategic infrastructure.

Speaking on March 13, Hegseth said Iranian kamikaze drone attacks had fallen by about 95 percent since the launch of the US Israeli military campaign known as Operation Epic Fury. He argued that Iran’s defense industrial base had been “functionally defeated.” Despite that claim, Iranian Shahed drones are still penetrating regional air defenses and striking sites across the Persian Gulf.

Recent attacks have hit airports, oil refineries, data centers, and luxury hotels in several Gulf states, from Dubai to Kuwait City. The ongoing strikes highlight the difficulty of stopping large numbers of inexpensive drones with traditional air defense systems.

The Shahed 136, a propeller driven delta wing drone, costs an estimated 20,000 to 50,000 dollars per unit and can travel as far as 2,500 kilometers. Military analysts often describe it as a low cost alternative to cruise missiles. Iranian forces typically launch the drones in waves designed to overwhelm expensive Western air defense systems.

Gulf countries rely heavily on Patriot missile systems produced by RTX and PAC 3 interceptors manufactured by Lockheed Martin. Each interceptor missile costs roughly 4 million dollars, creating a cost imbalance that can reach a ratio of 200 to 1 in Iran’s favor.

According to the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defense, the country detected 1,475 Iranian drones between February 28 and March 10. Air defenses intercepted 1,385 of them, but 90 drones managed to land inside the country.

The strikes killed six people and injured at least 122 across the Emirates. Damage was reported at Dubai International Airport, the Burj Al Arab hotel, the Jebel Ali port, and the Ruwais oil refinery, which halted operations after a nearby drone strike.

Amazon Web Services confirmed that two of its data centers in the Emirates were directly struck by drones. A third facility in Bahrain also suffered damage.

Elsewhere in the region, Kuwait reported strikes on its airport and fuel storage facilities. Bahrain said a desalination plant and its international airport were damaged. Saudi Arabia shut down its largest national oil refinery following a drone attack, while Qatar intercepted a drone targeting Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US military installation in the region.

The Pentagon has begun deploying its own technological response to the Shahed threat. One of the systems introduced during the early phase of Operation Epic Fury is the Low Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System, or LUCAS.

Developed by Arizona based company SpektreWorks, the drone was reverse engineered from captured Shahed 136 models. The LUCAS drone costs about 35,000 dollars per unit and mirrors the Shahed design while adding satellite connectivity and improved targeting capabilities. Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, described the system as essential for countering Iranian drone operations.

In the longer term, the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance program aims to deploy roughly 340,000 small attack drones over two years. The initiative has a budget of one billion dollars and was authorized by a presidential order signed by Donald Trump on June 6, 2025. Officials expect unit costs to fall from about 5,000 dollars to 2,300 dollars as production scales up.

However, analysts warn that Gulf countries face an immediate shortage of affordable interceptors. Jo Pelayo of the Atlantic Council said allied nations risk exhausting their missile stocks if they continue intercepting low cost drones with high cost defensive systems.