UAE Furious After Israeli Officials Claim Emirates Struck Iran, Abu Dhabi Swiftly Denies
Israel's claim that the UAE struck Iran triggered swift denials from Abu Dhabi and a diplomatic backlash, with UAE officials and Israeli commentators alike condemning the leak as damaging and false.
A report circulated in Israel on Sunday, attributed to senior Israeli officials, claiming that the United Arab Emirates had independently struck Iran, triggering swift and angry denials from Abu Dhabi and straining what has been one of Israel's most valued regional relationships.
A source close to the UAE government told Israel's public broadcaster Kan News that officials in Abu Dhabi were struggling to understand Israel's conduct and the nature of the briefings coming out of Jerusalem. "This is a sovereign state that makes its own decisions independently," the source said. "Publications of this kind do not help the regional effort and could cause damage to relations." The source added that it was "not appropriate" for a so-called senior Israeli official to speak on the UAE's behalf or spread rumors about the actions of another sovereign nation.
The chairman of the UAE Federal National Council's Foreign Affairs, Defense and National Security Committee, Ali Al-Nuaimi, went further, posting a flat denial on X, calling the Israeli reports fake news. "When we do something," he wrote, "we have the courage to announce it."
The incident drew sharp criticism from within Israel as well. *Israel Hayom* correspondent Ariel Kahana called the leak damaging and irresponsible, writing: "I don't know who the idiot was that spread the story as if the UAE had joined the war. What's certain is that they caused serious harm to a unique relationship with a partner state and during wartime."
Kahana listed five reasons the leak was harmful, among them that the report was simply false, that one country should not report on another's military actions, and that the UAE had been one of Israel's most loyal partners since October 7, the only Arab country that never stopped flying to Israel. "We have so few true friends in the Arab world," he wrote. "Why insult them?"
The UAE Ambassador to Israel, Mohammed Al-Khaja, subsequently reposted Kahana's criticism on social media.