Iran and UAE ties sour, and other major developments in the Middle East

Iran rejected the United Arab Emirates’ accusation that it fired two ballistic missiles that landed in the Persian Gulf, as Tehran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator landed in neighboring Iraq for a three day visit.

Meanwhile, France announced that it will expel two Iranian diplomats in response to the expulsion of French diplomats from the Islamic Republic earlier this week.

The souring of ties between the UAE and Iran comes amid fears of renewed escalation in the region, with no apparent renewed talks between Iran and the United States on the horizon.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Wednesday. Full coverage can be found here.

Tehran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wednesday criticized the United Arab Emirates for accusing Iran of launching two ballistic missiles “targeting maritime navigation” but fell into the Persian Gulf. In the weeks after the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28, the UAE was frequently targeted by Iranian missiles and drones, but Tuesday’s reported attack was the first in weeks.

“This behavior is contrary to the principle of good neighborliness and disrupts ongoing efforts to strengthen trust between regional countries and prevent escalation in the region,” Esmail Baghaei said in his weekly news conference.

Not long after the incident Tuesday, the UAE Foreign Ministry said it suspended trade with Iran “in light of regional escalations that undermine regional and international peace and security.”

It comes less than a week after Abu Dhabi accused Iran of firing drones at two tankers operated by a state-owned oil company as they sailed through the Strait of Hormuz.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf arrived in neighboring Iraq Wednesday for a three-day visit where he will meet with Iraqi officials and leaders of an Iran-backed political coalition.

Iran-backed Iraqi militias have launched and claim drone attacks targeting U.S. bases and diplomatic presence both within the country and abroad, piling the pressure on Baghdad which for years has delicately tried to maintain strong ties between both Washington and Tehran. President Donald Trump last month welcomed his Iraqi counterpart Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House, showering him with praise.

Qalibaf on Wednesday praised the country's Tehran-backed militias — which he called the “resistance in Iraq” — describing them as a “key component of the country's national power.”

“After years of experience in Iraq, the resistance has gone beyond the borders of the two countries and has become an influential force at the regional and global levels,” Qalibaf said.

Iran has long relied on its top allies and proxies, notably the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon and the Yemeni Houthi rebels, in years of Mideast conflict.

France announced Wednesday that it will expel two staff members of the Iranian Embassy in France, in response to what the French Foreign Ministry described as an assault by Iranian security forces against two French diplomatic staff in the Islamic Republic last month.

Iran accused the French pair of taking part in a secret meeting with “suspects in a major case involving foreign infiltration and interference,” Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The French diplomats were expelled on Monday.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot slammed the Iranian authorities for not investigating what he called a “premeditated and deliberate attack.” He said the two Iranians will leave Paris in the coming days.

“Iranian authorities chose to make entirely false accusations against French personnel and fabricate a case of foreign interference to justify their actions,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot.

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Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contribute to this report.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf visits the site where Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport, during an official visit to Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026.(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

An Iraqi security officer stands guard at the site near Baghdad International Airport where Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike, during a visit by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraqi security officers stand guard at the site near Baghdad International Airport where Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike, during a visit by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf visits the site near Baghdad International Airport where Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike, in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026.(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf addresses attendees at the site near Baghdad International Airport where Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike, in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026.(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies announced Wednesday that they are investigating senior officials in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, a day after the country’s recently fired defense minister called for national elections despite the ongoing fight against Russia’s invasion.

The revelation brought another test of Zelenskyy’s political resilience as Ukraine’s war with its bigger neighbor stretches into its fifth year.

Investigators are conducting an operation to expose a criminal organization allegedly led by a sitting and a former lawmaker, involving senior officials from the presidential office and other individuals, according to a joint statement from Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.

Further details would be released later, the agencies said in a joint statement.

Zelenskyy made no public comment on the investigation but issued a decree dismissing Iryna Mudra from the position of deputy head of the Office of the President.

Zelenskyy remains dogged by high-level graft investigations.

Last year, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak resigned and was later named as a suspect in a major graft probe involving a luxury construction project in the biggest threat to Zelenskyy’s government since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Also last year, a major embezzlement and kickbacks scandal involving the state-owned nuclear power company brought the resignations of Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers.

The European Union has identified deep-seated corruption as one of the major hurdles to Ukraine's desired membership in the bloc.

Zelenskyy is already under pressure over his firing last month of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, one of the longest-standing members of his team and a close ally since he helped Zelenskyy win the 2019 presidential election.

Zelenskyy, seeking to reconcile tensions between the defense ministry's young and tech-savvy innovators and Ukraine's seasoned, Soviet-trained battlefield leaders, risked angering both sides by reshuffling his wartime leadership. He ousted both Fedorov, whose changes to military procurement aimed to stamp out corruption, and commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi.

That sparked days of street protests in support of Fedorov. For Zelenskyy, it was the second time in a year that a wartime decision triggered a strong public backlash, after he moved in mid-2025 to curb the powers of anti-corruption agencies.

Fedorov, in a video address posted to YouTube late Tuesday, called for elections to be held in Ukraine in a bombshell statement that appeared to directly confront Zelenskyy, who says a ballot can't be held under the martial law in place due to the war.

“We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amid a prolonged war,” Fedorov said.

He said Ukraine is facing a systemic crisis in how it is governed, arguing that the current system is oriented toward protecting itself and resisting change. He also condemned corruption among officials without naming anyone, saying it had weakened Ukraine’s ability to fight the war.

Zelenskyy’s office did not immediately comment on Fedorov’s address. It was not immediately clear whether Fedorov's appeal for a ballot would resonate with Ukrainians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has balked at negotiating a peace deal directly with Zelenskyy, asserts that the Ukrainian president is an illegitimate leader because his term expired in 2024.

Ukraine’s Parliament approved Zelenskyy's candidate, Yevhenii Khmara, as the new defense minister in a vote Wednesday, a move that effectively closes the door to Fedorov’s return to the post, which he has sought, any time soon.

Lawmakers also gave their consent for Andrii Sybiha to stay on as foreign minister after holding the post in an interim role.

The political disarray comes after recent successes in the war for Ukraine. Using its innovative drone technology, it has repeatedly hit Russian oil facilities, causing fuel shortages. It has also shocked the Russian public by striking warehouses of Wildberries, Russia's biggest online retailer, and stalled front-line advances by Russia's bigger army.

But Zelenskyy has been unable to get traction in U.S.-led peace efforts, and Ukraine is at the mercy of Russia's ballistic missiles because more U.S.-made Patriot interceptors aren't available due to low international stockpiles.

In its latest strike on oil facilities, a drone hit an oil refinery in Ufa in Russia's Bashkortostan, its Gov. Radiy Khabirov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

The city of Ufa is located roughly 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) east of the border with Ukraine. There are three oil refineries in Ufa, and all three have been attacked before.

Russian air defenses overnight intercepted 453 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions, as well as occupied Crimea and the Black Sea, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Wednesday.

The Defense Ministry said Russian forces on Tuesday evening hit a bulk carrier in the Black Sea, southeast of Odesa, that was carrying military equipment. On Wednesday, the Russian military struck what it said were fuel and lubricant storage tanks for the Ukrainian armed forces in the southern port of Chornomorsk.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, a Russian drone attacked a minibus in the southern Kherson region on Wednesday morning, killing four people, said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson regional military administration. Four women were also wounded in the strike and were hospitalized, he said.

Also, a Russian drone struck a civilian car in Kherson city, the region's capital, on Wednesday, killing a woman, Prokudin said.

Amid the fighting, Russia and Ukraine each sent home 103 prisoners of war Wednesday, according to Zelenskyy and the Russian Defense Ministry.

Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

People sing and hold up their cell phone flashlights during a rally to protest the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as Ukraine's Defense Minister in Kyiv, late Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

People stand still for a minute of silence during a rally to protest against the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as Ukraine's Defense Minister in Kyiv, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

People march during a rally to protest the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as Ukraine's Defense Minister in Kyiv, late Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

FILE - Ukraine's Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov speaks to journalists during a joint press conference with Sweden's Defense Minister Pal Jonson in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, file)