The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has said that it does not seek to be drawn into conflict or escalation, and the country will not partake in any attacks against Iran from its territory, France 24 has reported.
The ambassador of the Emirates to the United Nations (UN), Jamal Al Musharakh, has informed about his country's stance to the UN in Geneva on Monday.. “The UAE does not seek to be drawn into conflict or escalation,” Musharakh has told the UN correspondents' association ACANU.
Musharakh said that his country has been very clear that it will not partake in any attacks against Iran, “from our territory.”
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“We have been very clear about this, before and leading up to the current events we are witnessing in the region,” he said, adding that the UAE was calling for a return to the negotiating table.
It was in Geneva that Washington and Tehran held the third round of ‘nuclear talks' through Omani negotiators on Feb. 26. Only two days later, the US, along with Israel, conducted airstrikes in Tehran, assassinating the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several hundred others.
In retaliation, Iran conducted airstrikes deep into Israel and many Gulf countries, including the UAE, rattling businesses and forcing the closure of airspaces in the region.
The relentless airstrikes by Tehran into the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and some other countries have forced energy companies to announce a force majeure, even as these countries face a shortage of supplies, including food.
Musharakh has said that the UAE was one of the countries that constantly called for the need for negotiation, the need for diplomacy, and the need for de-escalation.
"And we have constantly informed that our territories would not be used for any attacks against Iran. Yet we are being targeted, frankly, in a very unwarranted manner." Musharakh said.
He added that the UAE has been subjected to more than 1,400 attacks since the conflict began, including attacks with cruise and ballistic missiles, and drones, of which “a vast majority were intercepted and neutralised”.
However, he said, the “unprovoked targeting” of civilian infrastructure such as desalination plants was “unacceptable”. “Tragically, these attacks have resulted in four civilian fatalities, as well as 114 injuries (minor),” he said.
Musharakh said that the UAE and other Gulf countries are not parties to the conflict, and there was no legal basis for targeting third-party states that are not involved in hostilities.
Meanwhile, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian apologised on Saturday to neighbouring countries for attacks launched during the war. Regarding that apology, Musharakh said: "The actions on the ground speak for themselves: my country is being attacked. Enough said."
Also Read: UAE-Based Indian Businessman Opens Farmhouse To Stranded Travellers Amid Middle East Conflict
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