The dramatic escalation came a day after the UAE denied the Israeli prime minister’s claims
Benjamin Netanyahu He visited the Gulf country during the Iran war. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier warned that “those who collude with Israel to create division will be held accountable.” According to Reuters, citing Iranian state media, he said: “For the sake of unity, I did not name the UAE in the BRICS statement. But the fact is that the UAE was directly involved in the aggression against our country.” “When the attacks started, they didn’t even issue a condemnation,” he added.
“We must coexist peacefully, which requires peaceful relations and complete understanding between the two countries,” Araghchi added.
Separately, Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Garibaldi later issued a stronger statement, accusing the UAE of helping facilitate attacks on Iran and insisting that Abu Dhabi “must take responsibility for its actions.”
“The United Arab Emirates has played an important role in supporting and promoting military aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Garibaldi said at the BRICS meeting. The Iranian Embassy in India quoted him as saying: “Therefore, a party that itself creates and escalates tensions lacks the legitimacy to make political accusations and claims against Iran.”
“The UAE is an aggressor, not just an accomplice to aggression,” he further said, citing a 1974 UN General Assembly resolution.
Garibaldi claimed that before the conflict escalated, Iran had warned Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates, that any assistance to US or Israeli operations would lead to retaliation. “We have no choice but to target all U.S. installations at bases in the UAE, or any facilities and installations in which the United States plays a role or is involved,” he said, calling the attack an act of “legitimate self-defense.”
“You must take responsibility for your actions,” he told the UAE directly, adding that Iran had submitted more than 120 diplomatic notes and a trove of documents to the UN Security Council, including records of what it called “every fighter jet that took off from the UAE.”
Further recalling their initial contact attempts and warnings, he added: “Let me remind you that a few days before the start of the aggression, we had information about a possible attack by the Israeli regime and the United States, so we sent a formal message to regional countries, including the United Arab Emirates. We warned them that if they assist the aggressors and provide them with territory and facilities, Iran will have no choice but to exercise its legitimate right of self-defence and target these facilities to defend its country.”“
The Iran war began with a U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, followed by Iranian missile and drone attacks on U.S. bases and targets in the Gulf countries.
A new round of war of words could also complicate consensus at the BRICS foreign ministers meeting in India. Iranian media quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Garibadi as saying there had been “issues and communications” surrounding efforts to finalize the joint communiqué due to tensions with the UAE.