WANA (May 14) – Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, reacted sharply to remarks made by a senior Emirati official accusing Tehran of aggression, saying the United Arab Emirates was not a victim, but had played a direct role in military actions against the Islamic Republic.

 

Speaking on Thursday during the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi, Gharibabadi said any country that had supported or facilitated military operations against Iran had no standing to accuse Tehran of aggression.

 

Referring to a 1974 United Nations General Assembly resolution, he argued that countries providing facilities, bases, or logistical support to an aggressor are considered participants in the aggression itself, not merely supporters.

 

“The UAE is an aggressor, not simply a state assisting aggressors,” he said.

 

Strikes on US facilities in the UAE were “self-defense”

Gharibabadi said Iran’s actions against facilities and bases used by the United States in the UAE were carried out within the framework of legitimate self-defense under the UN Charter.

 

“Iran could not remain silent while its people and infrastructure were being targeted,” he said. “We had no choice but to respond to any facilities and bases used by the United States in the UAE.”

 

He added that Tehran had warned regional countries, including the UAE, before the conflict began that any military or logistical cooperation with the United States or Israel would make those facilities legitimate targets for Iran.

 

Iran accuses UAE of “playing the victim”

The Iranian deputy foreign minister criticized Emirati officials for portraying themselves as victims, insisting that “the real victim is the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

 

He claimed that more than 130,000 civilian targets inside Iran had been attacked during the conflict and that more than 4,000 civilians had been killed.

 

Gharibabadi also announced that Iran would pursue legal action against the UAE in international forums. According to him, Tehran has already submitted more than 120 official diplomatic notes, supported by hundreds of pages of documents and evidence, to the UN Security Council.

 

He said all warplane flights launched from the UAE had been documented, including details such as flight times, dates, and routes, and that the evidence had been provided to the Security Council.

 

“We are not at war with our neighbors”

In the final part of his remarks, Gharibabadi stressed that Iran has no conflict with neighboring countries and had repeatedly informed regional governments that its confrontation was solely with the United States and Israel.

 

However, he pointed to reports in Western and American media claiming that the UAE had directly participated in attacks against Iran, saying this demonstrated Abu Dhabi’s role went beyond political support and amounted to direct involvement in aggression against the Islamic Republic.