Abbas Araghchi, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic, accused the United Arab Emirates of “direct involvement” in military operations against Iran during the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi, an allegation that has pushed tensions between Tehran and Abu Dhabi into a new phase.
On the sidelines of the BRICS summit, Araghchi stated that while he refrained from naming the UAE in his official speech for the sake of “maintaining unity,” he emphasized that Abu Dhabi was “directly involved in the aggression against Iran.”
Hours later, he wrote on his Telegram channel: “The UAE allowed its territory to be used for firing artillery and deploying equipment against us,” adding that the country failed to even condemn the start of the attacks.
Referring to reports of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the UAE during the conflict, the Iranian Foreign Minister claimed: “It has become clear that they participated in these attacks and may have even taken direct action against us.”
These remarks come despite a formal statement from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, which dismissed reports of an unannounced visit by Netanyahu or the hosting of an Israeli military delegation as “baseless.” Previously, The Wall Street Journal had published a report alleging that the UAE conducted a covert military operation against Iran in early April; Abu Dhabi has not officially commented on that specific claim.
