DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates has the right to defend itself against Iran’s ongoing strikes but chooses restraint, a senior UAE official has said, as Tehran continues its retaliatory attacks across the Gulf.
“The UAE has the right to defend itself against this imposed terrorist aggression, but it is still prioritizing reason and logic, continuing to exercise restraint and seeking a way out for Iran and the region,” presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said late Saturday on X.
The UAE “made sincere efforts until the very last moment to mediate between Washington and Tehran to avoid this war,” he wrote.
Gargash’s post came as Iran, without providing evidence, claimed on Saturday that the US military used “ports, docks and hideouts” in the UAE to launch strikes on Kharg Island, home to the main terminal handling Iran’s oil exports.
Iran openly threatened the UAE’s non-US assets for the first time as its war with the US and Israel entered a third week. It urged people to leave areas where it said US forces were sheltering: Dubai’s Jebel Ali port — the Middle East’s busiest — and the Khalifa port in Abu Dhabi.
Hours later, debris from an intercepted Iranian drone hitting an oil facility sparked a fire in Fujairah port.
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Arab Gulf neighbors during the war, but it has said it was targeting US assets, even as hits or attempts were reported on civilian ones such as airports and oil fields.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told MS NOW that the US attacked Kharg Island and Abu Musa Island from two locations in the UAE, Ras Al-Khaimah and a place “very close to Dubai,” calling that dangerous and saying Iran “will try to be careful not to attack any populated area” there.
US Central Command said it had no response to Iran’s claim.
‘Lost compass, forsaken wisdom’
Responding to Araghchi, Gargash labelled the Iranian foreign minister accusation’s of UAE aggression against Iran “as part of a confused policy that has misdirected its aim, lost its compass, and forsaken wisdom.”
“In his justification, Araghchi has condemned his own country, entrenched its isolation, and exposed its aggression,” Gargash added.
In an earlier post on X on Saturday, the presidential adviser said that “the Iranian strategy, which reflects its inability to confront American and Israeli strikes by targeting Arab Gulf states, reveals a military impotence, a moral bankruptcy, and a political isolation.”
“Misleading media statements will not cover up this reality. A return to sound judgment begins with halting the targeting of neighbors and activating their mediation efforts.
”And in the UAE, we prove every day that our steadfastness is stronger than the aggressor’s hatred,“ Gargash added.
(With Agencies)
