- The president of the United Arab Emirates promises to fulfill his duty towards the country.
- Sheikh Mohammed says the UAE was “no pushover”.
- He will emerge stronger from the war: Sheikh Mohammed.
The president of the United Arab Emirates said his nation was in wartime but fine and told its enemies it was no pushover, in his first public comments since Iran launched missiles at its Gulf neighbor amid attacks from the United States and Israel.
“The United Arab Emirates has tough skin and bitter flesh; we are not easy prey,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also ruler of Abu Dhabi, said in comments made Friday while visiting those injured in the attacks, broadcast on Abu Dhabi TV on Saturday.
“We will do 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,” said Sheikh Mohammed, stressing that “we will emerge stronger.”
The United Arab Emirates, which is made up of seven emirates including Dubai, would protect everyone in the country, he said.
Separately, an Emirati official said the UAE wanted 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 when the Iranians realize that they are not helping themselves by attacking their entire neighborhood and stop there and realize that,” the official said.
Earlier today, the country’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted 15 ballistic missiles and 119 drones as Iran continued its attacks on its Gulf neighbor.
“Today the UAE’s 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 post on X.
“Air defense systems also detected 121 UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), of which 119 were intercepted, while two fell on the territory of the United Arab Emirates.”
The ministry stated that a total of 1,305 Iranian UAVs have been detected so far, of which 1,229 were intercepted, while 76 UAVs fell within the territory of the United Arab Emirates. Eight cruise missiles were also detected and destroyed.
These attacks, he added, caused the death of three people, including a Pakistani citizen, a Nepali and a Bangladeshi, and injured 112 people of various nationalities.
