United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on Monday that his country’s agreement to normalize relations with Israel does not have to do with the Islamic Republic.
“The UAE-Israeli peace treaty is a sovereign decision not directed at Iran,” he tweeted. “We say this and repeat it. We do not accept interference in our decisions.”
The UAE said on Sunday that it had summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires and given him a “strongly worded memo” in response to an “unacceptable” speech in which Iranian President Hassan Rouhani harshly criticized the Gulf state over the agreement.
According to Iran’s Fars New Agency, Rouhani had said, “These days we have faced a neighboring country which has approached the enemy of the Islamic world and the region and the murderer of the Palestinian nation in a decision to get close to the Zionist regime.”
The deal between Israel and the UAE is seen by many observers as a way to counter the Iranian regional threat.
The secretary-general of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council on Sunday condemned “threats” by Rouhani and other Iranian officials aimed at the UAE, Reuters reported.
