UAE rulers’ strategic mistakes made ties ‘unacceptable’: Iran
Tehran (KNA) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says ties with the UAE have drifted into an “unacceptable” lane due to the strategic mistakes the tiny Arab country’s leaders have made over the past years.
The UAE government, despite maintaining vast economic ties with Iran, has entered an unacceptable confrontational phase in its relations with the Islamic Republic due to the political and strategic mistakes of its leaders," Zarif told a parliament session in Tehran Monday.
In November 2018, an Emirati official said his country was fully complying with the US sanctions imposed the same month on the Islamic Republic. Even before that, the UAE had taken a tougher line in accordance with Saudi Arabia's hawkish policies on Iran.
Washington's sanctions targeted Iran's shipping sector as well as its banks and national airline, a decision that complicated Iranian oil tankers' port calls in the UAE's Fujairah port for fueling.
In response, Iran said it would start bunkering operations at a newly-built ship fueling terminal on the Persian Gulf island of Qeshm, which would reduce costs by as much as $5-7 per tonne.