Iran, Turkey Team up Against UAE over Normalization Agreement with Israel

The chief of Iran’s armed forces, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, said on Sunday that his country’s approach to the United Arab Emirates would shift because of the UAE’s normalization agreement with Israel.

“Definitely, the Iranian nation’s attitude towards this neighboring state [UAE] will change fundamentally, and the Islamic Republic’s armed forces will also deal with that country with different calculations,” said Bagheri, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.

Iranian parliament speaker Baqer Qalibaf said on Sunday that friendship with Israel was treason against the Islamic world, Tasnim reported.

A day earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani harshly criticized the UAE over its Aug. 13 announcement.

“These days we have faced a neighboring country which has approached the enemy of the Islamic world and the region and the murderer of the Palestinian nation in a decision to get close to the Zionist regime,” said Rouhani, according to Iran’s Fars news agency. “[The UAE’s] measure is one hundred percent wrong and condemned,” he added.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday that the normalization agreement was intolerable, and that Turkey may suspend diplomatic ties with the UAE and withdraw its ambassador.

“The move against Palestine is not a step that can be stomached. Now, Palestine is either closing or withdrawing its embassy. The same thing is valid for us now,” said Erdoğan, reported Reuters. He added that he had given orders to his foreign minister regarding the matter, according to the report.

“I told him we may also take a step in the direction of suspending diplomatic ties with the Abu Dhabi leadership or pulling back our ambassador,” he said.

Turkey maintains diplomatic relations with Israel, but the ties are tense as the Islamist Turkish president pursues a foreign policy at odds with Israel and supports radical movements throughout the region.