Tehran: Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United Arab Emirates on Thursday of playing an active role in the US-Israeli war against his country. "The UAE is an active partner in this aggression, and there is no doubt about it," Araghchi said in a Telegram post while attending a BRICS summit in India.
Araghchi also referred to what Israel has described as a "secret" meeting in the UAE during the war between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a visit Abu Dhabi denied took place. "I must say that the UAE was directly involved in the act of aggression against my country. When this aggression began, they even refused to condemn it," Araghchi said.
"It also became clear that they participated in these attacks and may have even acted directly against us," he added. In a statement later carried by the state news agency IRNA, Araghchi said he "advised the representative of the UAE that the Zionist regime (Israel) and the United States cannot guarantee their security" and that Abu Dhabi had "seen the consequences of the presence of American bases" on its soil.
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"We and the United Arab Emirates are neighbours, we have lived together in the past and we must continue to live together in the future. We must therefore change our perspective and understand security as mutual cooperation, not as cooperation with foreign countries," he added.
Relations between Iran and the UAE have long been strained, but tensions have flared since February 28 when US-Israeli attacks triggered Iranian retaliatory strikes against Israel and US allies in the Gulf, including the UAE.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 8. Iran has repeatedly accused Gulf states of allowing US forces to carry out attacks from their territory. Gulf nations have repeatedly denied the accusations, saying even before the conflict that they would not allow their territory or airspace to be used to attack Iran.
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Iranian state television has featured analysts alleging UAE involvement in the attacks on Iran. The UAE earlier this month blamed Iran for a drone strike at an energy installation in its eastern emirate of Fujairah, a claim Iran denied.
