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 Mideast’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.
