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‘No basis in fact’: MEA dismisses report of India-UAE pact for evacuation via Fujairah port
The claim comes amid ongoing tensions in West Asia between the US, Israel, and Iran, which has seen the UAE being targeted with missile and drone attacks.
The ministry of external affairs (MEA) has dismissed media reports claiming that India and the UAE were working on a pact to “evacuate” Indian nationals from the Emirates through the Fujairah port, saying there was “no basis in fact” for such a story.
The claim comes amid ongoing tensions in West Asia between the US, Israel, and Iran, which has seen the UAE being targeted with missile and drone attacks, disrupting air traffic.
The MEA fact-check unit asked the citizens in a post on the social media platform X to stay alert against “such false and baseless claims”.
“Fake News Alert! There is no basis in fact for such a story. There is no evacuation being planned. Please stay alert against such false and baseless claims,” the post read, along with screenshots of the said story.
A media report has claimed that the “first of its kind treaty” would see Indians in the UAE evacuated by ship “in case of a problem with air traffic”. It also indirectly linked the signing of the said pact to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s planned stopover in the UAE while on his way to Europe later this week.
The status of the US-Iran war
Iran sent its response to the latest US proposal to end the Iran war via Pakistani mediators on Sunday, but US President Donald Trump quickly rejected it in a social media post as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” — the latest setback to efforts to resolve the standoff in the Persian Gulf that has throttled shipping and sent energy prices soaring.
Iranian state television reported that Tehran rejected the proposal as amounting to surrender, insisting instead on “war reparations by the US, full Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, an end to sanctions, and the release of seized Iranian assets.”
The fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran was tested when a drone ignited a small fire on a ship off Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait reported drones entering its airspace. The UAE said it shot down two drones and blamed Iran. No casualties were reported, and no one immediately claimed responsibility.
Qatar's Foreign Ministry called the ship attack a “dangerous and unacceptable escalation that threatens the security and safety of maritime trade routes and vital supplies in the region." The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre gave no details about the ship's owner or origin.
Kuwait Defence Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al Otaibi said forces responded to drones but did not say where they came from.
