France Deploys Aircraft Carrier Amid Middle East Tensions
The redeployment was announced as French President Emmanuel Macron convened an emergency National Defense and Security Council session at the Élysée Palace to evaluate the rapidly deteriorating security landscape across the region.
Speaking directly to council members, Macron disclosed that "in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a hangar at our base adjacent to the Emirati base was hit in a drone attack targeting the port of Abu Dhabi."
He moved swiftly to contain alarm, adding: "The damage is limited and purely material. There are no injuries."
The UAE, Macron warned, was "by far the most affected and most exposed," with Qatar also coming under sustained fire, while "all other countries in the region have been struck."
Macron further characterized the widening conflict as without modern precedent, stressing that US and Israeli strikes against Iran since Friday morning had triggered "an unprecedented regional escalation."
Iran's retaliatory campaign, he added, had been carried out "in a totally disproportionate and indiscriminate manner," hitting military installations alongside "numerous civilian targets" in partner and allied nations throughout the region.
Macron also confirmed that authorities would undertake a "detailed, country-by-country review of the situation" to reinforce protection measures and coordinate the repatriation of French nationals "as soon as airspace reopens."
France's Defense Minister Catherine Vautrin separately confirmed the base incident in a post on US social media company X, declaring: "Our forces are maintaining maximum vigilance in the face of a situation that is evolving rapidly."
Earlier Sunday, the UAE Defense Ministry independently confirmed that two Iranian drones had struck a warehouse at Al-Salam Naval Base in Abu Dhabi, igniting fires across two containers holding general materials.
The crisis traces back to a sweeping US-Israeli offensive launched Saturday that eliminated several of Iran's most senior officials — including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Tehran answered with a broad wave of drone and missile strikes against Israel, American military assets, and targets across the Gulf.
The confrontation echoes a comparable strike campaign the two allies launched against Iran last June, which ignited a 12-day conflict before a ceasefire brought hostilities to a halt.
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