Stepping up its belligerent rhetoric against the United Arab Emirates over its historic peace deal with Israel, Iranian officials over the weekend threatened outright to launch attacks against Abu Dhabi.
"The UAE's great betrayal of the Palestinian people ... will turn this small, rich country, which is heavily dependent on security, into a legitimate and easy target," Iranian hardline conservative daily Kayhan, quoted officials in the regime as saying.
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The newspaper, whose editor in chief was appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is considered to have a direct line to Tehran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has also condemned the deal, saying the agreement between the UAE and the Jewish state is a "betrayal of the Palestinian cause" and the UAE had made a "huge mistake."
These statements were echoed by Iranian Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri who told local media Sunday that the Islamic republic's "approach" to the United Arab Emirates will change in the wake of the accord.
"Tehran's approach to the UAE will change. ... If something happens in the Persian Gulf region and if our national security is compromised, however slightly, we will hold the UAE responsible for that and we will not tolerate it," he said.
Abu Dhabi, for its part, said it found the belligerent rhetoric by Iranian officials "unacceptable."
The United Arab Emirates summoned Iran's charge d'affaires in Abu Dhabi for clarifications following Rouhani's speech, state news agency WAM said on Sunday.
The Emirates' Foreign Ministry said the speech was "unacceptable, inflammatory, and carrying serious repercussions for the security and stability of the Arabian Gulf region."
The charge d'affaires has been given a "strongly worded memo", WAM said.
Iranian Chief of Staff for the Armed Forces Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri (Screenshot)The UAE statement said the ministry considers Rouhani's speech "interference in UAE internal affairs and an assault on its sovereignty."
A Foreign Ministry official reminded Iran of its duty to protect the UAE's diplomatic mission in Tehran, adding that the UAE, which is home to thousands of Iranians, "pursues a de-escalatory policy towards its neighbor Iran."
Meanwhile, a top analyst warned that Iran's threats against the UAE must be taken seriously
Dr. Theodore Karasik of the Gulf State Analytics, a geostrategic consultancy based in Washington, DC, noted that as Tehran has, in the past, targeted Saudi civilians with missiles launched by its proxy forces in Yemen and Iraq, its threats to attack the UAW cannot be dismissed.
"Iranian missiles could hit the UAE in eight minutes," Karasik told local media.
"They can target critical infrastructure, or they can simply target the desert in an act of psychological warfare. Recent Iranian naval exercises featured missiles that came from an underground launcher. This was new and set off an alarm. Nevertheless, Dubai and other urban centers are still considered safe zones," he said.
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