UAE Minister of State Lana Nusseibeh says Iran must stop its attacks on Gulf countries and comply with international law, warning that continued conflict threatens regional stability and the global economy.
In an interview with NBC News chief international correspondent Keir Simmons on Friday, Ms Nusseibeh said Iran’s actions have targeted not only military sites but civilian infrastructure across the region, which was "unacceptable" and the UAE would not respond to bullying by backing down.
“When does responding to a regional bully by backing down ever bode well for the region, for countries or for the international community?
"We will not respond to bullying by backing down … But the UAE and other countries in the region are always committed to the diplomatic pathway forward at the end of this. But this has to start with their desisting from these illegal attacks on Gulf partners.”
Ms Nusseibeh said that Iran must abide by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2817 adopted this week that condemned Iran’s actions over the past two weeks and called on it to stop any further attacks.
“You can’t change the geography," she said. "They are very much integrated into the region. We have a lot of respect for Iranian people, for their culture, for their potential as an economy and as a power in the region. But they have to behave responsibly. They have to behave like a responsible state. Today the international community has described them as a rogue actor.”
Describing the attacks as an "illegal onslaught on Gulf countries" aimed at civilian infrastructure, she paid tribute to those defending the UAE and said authorities had "assertively" defended the country and the communities that live in the UAE.
The UAE Ministry of Defence on Saturday said since the start of Iranian attacks on the UAE, air defences have dealt with 294 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles, and 1,600 drones.
And Ms Nusseibeh said the conflict underscored the risks posed by Iran’s missile capabilities and said it had shown Iran cannot coexist safely with its neighbours when it had such a ballistic missile weapons programme.
She further said Iran's actions in the Strait of Hormuz was "economic warfare" that impacts the “global economy” but the UAE and its allies "will win this".
“This wasn’t a war that we encouraged or that we are part of," she said.
"But now that we have begun it, we’ll fully and assertively defend our country, our people and more than that, the model you are trying to attack in this region – a model of coexistence, of prosperity, of tolerance. We will not let that go down because Iran wants to bring the region down with it.”
