Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei unleashed a barrage of sharp criticism against the Emirati government over its normalizing relations with Israel, saying, “The UAE committed treason against the Islamic world, the regional nations and Palestine.” Khamenei expressed confidence that the agreement itself “will not last long” but will stay forever as “a mark of disgrace” for Emirati authorities.
The stinging rebuke was the Iranian supreme leader’s first public reaction to the agreement, which calls on Tel Aviv to halt its controversial annexation of large swaths of territory in the West Bank, allowing for Emirati-Israeli cooperation in multiple economic and security arenas. The American-brokered deal made the UAE the third Arab country, after Egypt and Jordan, to enter formal relations with the Jewish state. The Emirati government’s decision has already drawn the ire of several Palestinian groups and Muslim states, including Turkey, which criticized it as “unforgivable” and “hypocritical.”
