A fire broke out after a drone strike near the Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates, but there were no injuries or increased radioactivity, the Abu Dhabi local government press service announced Sunday.

"Authorities in Abu Dhabi intervened after a fire broke out in an electrical generator located outside the inner perimeter of the Barakah nuclear power plant (...) following a drone strike," the service said in a statement.

"No injuries have been reported and no impact on radiological safety levels has been observed," according to the same source, which did not specify the origin of the shot.

Built by a South Korean consortium led by energy supplier KEPCO, the Barakah nuclear power plant began operations in 2020. It produces 40 terawatt-hours per year and covers up to 25% of the electricity needs of the Emirates, a rich oil-producing country, according to the public operator Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC).

Located more than 200 kilometers west of the capital Abu Dhabi, the power plant is situated near the borders of neighboring Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It is therefore closer to the Qatari capital Doha than to the major population centers of the Emirates.

The United Arab Emirates was the second country in the region to acquire a nuclear power plant, after Iran, and the first in the Arab world.

Since the start of the Middle East war, triggered by an Israeli-American offensive against the Islamic Republic on February 28, the Emirates have been targeted by more than 2,800 missiles and drones, bearing the brunt of Iranian retaliatory attacks among the Gulf monarchies.

The United Arab Emirates, allies of Washington, are among the few Arab countries to have normalized relations with Israel, following the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020.

Earlier this month, the Emirates blamed the Islamic Republic for a drone strike against an energy facility in Fujairah, in the east of the country, which Iran denied.

Iran has repeatedly accused Gulf states of allowing US forces to conduct attacks from their territories, and this week tensions escalated after press reports indicated that the UAE and Saudi Arabia had carried out strikes directly against Iran during the war.

On Friday, the United Arab Emirates "categorically" rejected Tehran's allegations, which, since the BRICS summit in India, have accused them of playing an "active" role alongside the United States and Israel in the war against Iran.