The secretary of Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council and a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mohsen Rezaei, stated this Sunday (the 17th) that Tehran “has not closed its doors” to friendship with the United Arab Emirates, but that the country should know that “Iran’s patience has limits”.
Cited by the Iranian news agency ISNA, Rezaei criticized the bilateral relations between the Emirates and Israel. “We are aware that there are relations and exchanges between the United Arab Emirates and Israel; the Emirates should not involve themselves in Israel’s plots and schemes,” the secretary warned.
The United Arab Emirates have been the target of some of Tehran’s strongest attacks during the Middle East war, which has stretched into the third month, and recent reports suggest that the country may have carried out its own retaliatory attacks.
This Sunday, an Emirates’ nuclear plant was attacked and there was a fire, with no reports of deaths or injuries. Although the country did not directly accuse Iran, the UAE’s president’s diplomatic adviser, Anwar Gargash, hinted that Tehran was responsible for the offensive.
According to Gargash, the attack, “whether carried out by the principal agent or by one of its intermediaries, represents a dangerous escalation and a grim scene that violates all international laws and norms, in a criminal disregard for the lives of civilians in the United Arab Emirates and its surroundings”.
