UAE summons senior Iranian diplomat over Rouhani's remarks

Abu Dhabi, Aug 17 (IANS) The United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation summoned a senior diplomat from the Iranian Embassy in Abu Dhabi over President Hassan Rouhani's remarks about the peace accord between Israel and UAE.

Iran's charge d'affairs was called to the ministry, it was quoted as saying on Sunday by the Xinhua news agency.

Khalifa Shaheen Al Marri, UAE's deputy minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation for political affairs, handed him a strong note of protest against the "threats contained in Rouhani's speech regarding the UAE's sovereign decisions".

The ministry considered the remarks "unacceptable and inflammatory and had serious implications for security and stability in the Gulf region".

The note warned of Iran's responsibility to protect the UAE mission in Tehran and its diplomats in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations in the light of precedents of attacks on foreign diplomatic missions in Iran.

The UAE affirmed its absolute rejection of "the language of inflammatory speeches delivered by the Iranian authorities" following the peace accord reached between the UAE, Israel and the US, considering this "an interference in its internal affairs and an attack on its sovereignty".

During a cabinet briefing on Saturday, Rouhani condemned the accord, saying "this move is incorrect, wrong and totally reprehensible, and it is a betrayal to the cause of the Palestinian nation, to the cause of Muslims, and to the cause of Jerusalem".

Leaders of the UAE are wrong to think that by "attaching themselves to the US and the Zionist regime", they will guarantee their own security and economical growth, the President added.