A UAE senior official denied to The Jerusalem Post that Abu Dhabi was involved in a strike against an Iranian desalination facility, contradicting earlier claims by a source familiar with the matter to the Post on Sunday.
Accusing Israeli officials of leaking reports of its attack in Iran, a source close to the UAE told the Post that Abu Dhabi was “struggling to understand Israeli conduct and the nature of briefings coming out of Jerusalem.”
“It is not appropriate for what is described as a ‘senior Israeli source’ to speak on our behalf or spread rumors about the actions of another sovereign state,” the source said. “This is a sovereign state that makes its decisions independently.”
It is the Post’s understanding that the UAE would not strike a civilian target but could target a military site. The IDF, too, denied involvement in that particular strike.
The United Arab Emirates was initially said to have struck an Iranian desalination facility on Sunday in what would have been its first retaliatory attack against Iranian drone and missile fire during the combined Israel-US operations (Roaring Lion and Epic Fury) aimed at dismantling the Islamic regime.
The UAE Foreign Ministry released a statement reaffirming that the Gulf state was “acting in self-defense against the brutal and unjustified Iranian aggression.
“The UAE emphasizes that it does not seek to be drawn into any conflict or escalation but affirms its full right to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty, national security, and territorial integrity,” the statement read.
Ali Al Nuaimi, chairman of the UAE’s National Defense Committee, said, “The UAE will never place the Iranian people in the same basket as the Iranian regime. The Iranian people are the real victims of that regime and the ones who suffer the most from its policies.”
“As neighbors,” he said, “we recognize this reality, and we care about their well-being.”
In a similar report last week, a senior Western diplomatic source told the Post that Qatar had carried out strikes inside Iran in retaliation for recent Iranian drone and missile attacks.
Abu Dhabi had reportedly contemplated whether it should react after it, along with a host of Gulf nations, was attacked by Iran.
Last week, authorities in the UAE extinguished a fire caused by debris after a drone was intercepted by air defenses in the Fujairah oil industry zone.
A Wall Street Journal report from Friday said that the UAE was considering freezing billions of dollars in assets belonging to Iran, a move that would cripple the country’s connection to the global economy.
Later on Sunday, the UAE Defense Ministry announced that the death toll from Iran’s attacks had risen to four.
Two Kuwaiti firefighters killed as Iran deals Gulf heavy blows
Along with the UAE, the governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain reported Iranian drone attacks on their countries on Saturday and early Sunday, with a huge fire engulfing a government office block in Kuwait.
Kuwait’s Interior Ministry said that two of its officers were killed “while performing duties.”
In an apparent attempt to cool anger across the Gulf, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized to neighboring states for its attacks on US bases in those countries on Saturday.