Iran accuses the Emirates of being an "active partner" in the Israeli-American war

The Iranian foreign minister on Thursday accused the United Arab Emirates of playing an "active" role alongside the United States and Israel in the war against Iran.

"The United Arab Emirates is an active partner in the aggression (against Iran), there is no doubt about that," Abbas Araghchi said on Telegram, while attending the BRICS summit in India.

He also referred to a meeting, described as "secret" by Israel, between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the President of the Emirates Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, which Abu Dhabi denied took place.

"I must say that the United Arab Emirates were directly involved in the act of aggression against my country. From the very beginning of this aggression, they refused to condemn it," he added. "It is now clear that they participated in these attacks, perhaps even acting directly against us."

In statements published later Thursday by the official news agency Irna, Mr. Araghchi indicated that he had told "the representative of the United Arab Emirates that the Zionist regime and the United States cannot guarantee their security" and that Abu Dhabi had "noted the result of the presence of American bases" on its soil.

"We and the United Arab Emirates are neighbors, we have lived together in the past and we must continue to live together in the future. We must therefore change our perspective and view security as mutual cooperation, not as cooperation with foreign countries," he insisted.

Relations between Iran and the Emirates have been extremely strained since February 28 and the start of the US-Israeli attacks, which triggered an Iranian response against Israel and the Gulf states, allies of the United States, including the Emirates.

While a fragile ceasefire has been in place since April 8, Iranian state television continues to broadcast commentary from analysts accusing the United Arab Emirates of being involved in attacks against Iran during the conflict.

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

Iran has repeatedly accused the Gulf States of allowing US forces to conduct attacks from their territory.

The petro-monarchies denied these accusations, stating even before the conflict that they would not allow the use of their territory or airspace to attack Iran.

The Emirates are one of the United States' main allies in the region and are among the few Arab countries to have normalized relations with Israel, following the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020.

AFP