UAE announces full support to US new strategy on Iran

ABU DHABI - 14 October 2017: The United Arab Emirates strongly supports US President Donald Trump's new strategy to address the full range of Iran's destructive actions, the country's official news agency WAM reported Friday.

"For too long, the Iranian regime has spread destruction and chaos throughout the region and beyond. The nuclear deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – offered Iran an opportunity to engage responsibly with the international community. Instead, it only emboldened Iran to intensify its provocative and destabilizing behavior," the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said on a statement.

"Importantly, the new US strategy takes necessary steps to confront Iran’s malign behavior in all its forms – including its growing ballistic missile program, support for terrorist organisations like Hezbollah and the Houthis, cyber attacks, interference in its neighbors' domestic affairs, and threats to the freedom of navigation," it added.

"The Treasury Department's designation of the International Revolutionary Guard Corps is a strong measure that will help limit Iran’s dangerous activities as the world’s leading state-sponsor of terrorism," the statement read.

"The UAE welcomes and endorses the new US strategy. We reaffirm our commitment to working with the US and our allies to counter the full range of Iran’s destabilizing activities and its support for extremists," the ministry concluded.