Sheikh Abdullah vows, ‘UAE will never be blackmailed by terrorists’

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the UAE, affirmed that the UAE will not yield to pressure or blackmail amid ongoing Iranian missile and drone attacks.

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed said on X, “We will never be blackmailed by terrorists.”

Dr Anwar Bin Mohammed Gargash, Diplomatic Adviser to the UAE President, also wrote on X, “We in the Gulf states have the right to ask: where are the institutions of joint Arab and Islamic action—foremost among them the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation—while our countries and peoples are subjected to this brutal Iranian aggression? And where are the so-called ‘major’ Arab and regional powers?

“In light of this absence and inaction, it would not be appropriate later to speak of a decline in the Arab and Islamic role or to criticize the American and Western presence.

“The Arab Gulf states were a support and partner to all in times of prosperity... so where are you today in times of hardship?”

US President Donald Trump said on Monday the US was talking with a "respected" Iranian leader and claimed the Islamic Republic was eager for a deal to end the war. He also extended a deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on its power plants, saying it has an additional five days.

Trump's turnaround, which held out the possibility of resolving the war now in its fourth week, served to drive down oil prices and jolt stocks. It offered a reprieve after the U.S. and Iran traded threats over the weekend that could have cut electricity to millions in Iran and around the Gulf, and knocked out desalination plants providing many desert nations with drinking water.