Iran's military issued a stark warning Saturday, threatening to launch "violent strikes" against the UAE emirate of Ras Al Khaimah if Abu Dhabi allowed attacks against Iranian-controlled islands in the Gulf.
Ras Al Khaimah © UAE
Iran's military issued a stark warning Saturday, threatening to launch "violent strikes" against the UAE emirate of Ras Al Khaimah if Abu Dhabi allowed attacks against Iranian-controlled islands in the Gulf.
"If new aggressions are launched from UAE territory against the Iranian islands of Abu Musa and Greater Tunb, the powerful Iranian armed forces will subject Ras Al Khaimah to violent strikes," declared Iran's joint command center Khatam al-Anbiya in a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency.
The islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb, located near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately a fifth of the world's oil passes, have been a source of longstanding tension between Iran and the UAE.
Tehran has controlled the islands since 1971, when Iranian forces seized them just as the UAE was gaining independence. Abu Dhabi has never abandoned its territorial claim.
Iran accuses its Gulf neighbors of allowing US forces to launch attacks against it from their territories, and has fired numerous missile and drone strikes against what it describes as "American interests" in the region since the war began on February 28.
Gulf states have repeatedly denied these allegations, insisting - even before the war - that they would not allow their territory or airspace to be used for attacks against Iran.
By Mariam Al Mualla
Iran has warned the United States that it would respond forcefully to an Israeli offensive on a mountainous ridge in southern Lebanon where Iranian military personnel are holed up alongside Hezbollah fighters, three officials briefed on the message told Reuters.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the renewed U.S. campaign against Iran would not continue for "too long" after the biggest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington since July.
Top aides to President Donald Trump are pushing to keep the Iran war from escalating before November's midterm elections to staunch Republican electoral losses, four people familiar with the discussions said, a strategy already under strain as the U.S. and Iran exchanged back-and-forth attacks overnight.
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