"UAE air defences are currently responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran," the defence ministry said in a statement explaining "the sounds heard are the result of the Air Defence Systems intercepting missiles and drones".

The Tasnim news agency reported the Iranian military's operational command had warned the UAE "if any further aggression originates from its territory against the Iranian islands of Abu Musa and Greater Tunb in the Persian Gulf, Iran... will subject Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE to heavy strikes".

Authorities in the northern emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, which shares its name with the UAE's sixth-largest city, said later on Saturday the "sounds heard across parts of the city were the result of successful air defence interception operations".

Abu Musa and the Greater Tunb islands, which are controlled by Iran but claimed by the UAE, have long been a source of dispute between the two countries.

The islands are located in the Gulf near the entrance to the critical global shipping chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz.

Marine traffic there has been disrupted by the regional war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 and has since spread across the Middle East.

Iran accuses Gulf states of allowing US forces to carry out attacks from their territory, and has launched missile and drone strikes against what it calls US interests in those countries throughout the war.

Gulf states have repeatedly denied those accusations, saying even before the war that they would not allow their territory or airspace to be used to attack Iran.