The diplomatic facade of the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi was shattered on Thursday when Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi openly accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of being an active military partner in the brutal US-Israeli war against Iran. The extraordinary public confrontation at the ministerial level, normally reserved for carefully worded communiqués, laid bare the deep divisions tearing apart the Middle East. In a blistering address and subsequent Telegram post, Araghchi accused Abu Dhabi of not only refusing to condemn the initial attacks but of actively providing military bases, airspace, intelligence, and logistics to facilitate the bombing of Iranian soil. The UAE representative’s claims were dismissed as "unfounded and baseless" by Tehran, which insisted that the Gulf monarchy must "reconsider its way of thinking".
The core of Iran’s accusation is that the UAE acted as a staging ground for the US-Israeli military machine. While Gulf nations have long denied allowing their territory to be used for attacks on Iran, Araghchi stated that the reality on the ground proved otherwise. He accused the UAE of "providing military bases, airspace, land, and facilities to the US and the Israeli regime" during the bombing campaign that began on February 28. This involved not just static infrastructure but active intelligence sharing, with Tehran claiming that Abu Dhabi provided surveillance data to assist the Americans and Israelis in targeting Iranian assets. Araghchi noted that "when the war of aggression began, they (UAE) refused to even condemn it". The accusation has been further fueled by recent reports, including a Wall Street Journal piece stating that the UAE carried out military operations against Iran in early April, including an attack on a refinery on Lavan Island. In response, the IRGC issued a grave warning to the UAE, threatening to strike "most critical" energy installations and desalination plants if further attacks are launched or supported from Emirati soil.
The diplomatic spat was triggered, in part, by a bizarre and embarrassing public relations debacle involving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Just a day before the BRICS showdown, Netanyahu’s office boasted that he had made a "secret" wartime visit to the UAE, meeting with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, a visit Netanyahu’s office claimed led to a "historic breakthrough" in relations. The announcement was intended to showcase the strength of the Abraham Accords under pressure. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately issued a flat denial, stating that reports of such a visit were "entirely unfounded" and that its relations with Israel were public and transparent, "not based on non-transparent or unofficial arrangements".