DUBAI: A senior United Arab Emirates official on Monday criticised the country’s Gulf allies over their response to Iranian retaliatory attacks in the region following the Israeli-US strikes that launched the Middle East war.
Presidential advisor Anwar Gargash said the Gulf states had supported each other logistically in the crisis but he lambasted their political and military response.
“The GCC’s stance was the weakest historically, considering the nature of the attack and the threat it posed to everyone,” Gargash said, referring to the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council.
Gargash said he “expected such a weak stance from the Arab League”, the 22-member organisation of Middle East and North African nations based in Cairo.
“But I don’t expect it from the GCC, and I am surprised by it,” he told a conference in Dubai.
Tehran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at the GCC nations — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28.
The UAE, which has been the most heavily targeted country, has adopted a more forceful tone towards Iran, while its neighbours appear more measured.
Gulf monarchies have always had “difficult relations” with Iran, Gargash said.
In recent years he said they pursued a “containment policy” through mediation, energy partnerships, strategic agreements and, in the case of the UAE, trade ties. But “these policies have failed miserably, and we are now facing a major reassessment”, he added.
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