- The President of the United Arab Emirates pledges to fulfill his duty to the country.
- Sheikh Mohammed says UAE ‘was not easy prey’.
- Will emerge stronger from the war: Sheikh Mohammed.
The president of the United Arab Emirates said his country was in war but doing well and told his enemies he was not easy prey, in his first public comments since Iran launched missiles at its Gulf neighbor amid US-Israeli strikes.
“The UAE has thick skin and bitter flesh – we are not easy prey,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also Abu Dhabi’s ruler, said in remarks Friday during his visit to those injured in the strikes, broadcast on Abu Dhabi Television on Saturday.
“We will fulfill our duty to our country, our people and our residents who are also part of our family,” he said.
The United Arab Emirates “are in a period of war,” Sheikh Mohammed said, stressing that “we will emerge stronger.”
The UAE, which comprises seven emirates including Dubai, will protect all people in the country, he said.
Separately, an Emirati official said the UAE wants Iranian aggression against non-combatant states, the Gulf states, to end immediately.
“Any kind of escalation is worrying. We want to contain the war. We don’t want the war to expand. We want to start with the Iranians realizing that they are not helping themselves by attacking their entire neighborhood and stop there and realize that,” the official said.
Earlier in the day, Iran’s Defense Ministry said it had intercepted 15 ballistic missiles and 119 drones as Iran continued its attacks on its Gulf neighbor.
“Today, UAE air defense systems detected 16 ballistic missiles, of which 15 were intercepted and destroyed, while one ballistic missile fell into the sea,” the Defense Ministry said in a message on X.
“Air defense systems also detected 121 drones (unmanned aerial vehicles), of which 119 were intercepted, while two fell on the territory of the United Arab Emirates.”
The ministry said a total of 1,305 Iranian drones have been detected so far, of which 1,229 were intercepted, while 76 drones fell on UAE territory. Eight cruise missiles were also detected and destroyed.
These attacks, he adds, left three dead, including a Pakistani, Nepalese and Bangladeshi national, and injured 112 people of various nationalities.
