ABU DHABI — In a sharp and meticulously argued statement, Dr. Ebtesam Al-Ketbi — political scientist, founder, and president of the Emirates Policy Center — has responded directly to remarks made by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, rejecting accusations against the UAE in unambiguous terms and asserting the full sovereignty of the Emirati state.

The statement, published on Dr. Al-Ketbi’s official X account @ekitbi, came in response to Araghchi’s public statements covered by Iran International Arabic, in which the Iranian minister appeared to implicate the UAE in regional tensions with Iran.

Dr. Al-Ketbi opened her rebuttal by challenging the very basis of Tehran’s claims: an accusation without publicly declared evidence, she argued, is not diplomacy — it is an attempt to manufacture a political narrative at the expense of a sovereign state. “Whoever wants better relations with their neighbor does not start them with accusations, nor does he wave documents in the media only to evade presenting them before the competent international bodies,” she wrote.

Addressing Iran’s central allegation directly, she reiterated the UAE’s publicly stated and unambiguous position: the UAE will not allow its airspace, territory, or waters to be used for any hostile military actions against Iran, and will not provide logistical support in that regard. “So whoever has evidence that contradicts this should present it as official proof, not as an emotional statement for domestic consumption,” she stated pointedly.

On the suggestion that the UAE’s international relationships are a source of regional tension, Dr. Al-Ketbi was categorical: “That is a distortion of the facts.” The UAE’s political and defense partnerships are entirely sovereign matters, she insisted. Abu Dhabi has affirmed its right to respond to any threat, accusation, or hostile act through all sovereign, legal, and diplomatic channels — and it neither seeks Tehran’s approval nor accepts any form of external guardianship over its decisions.

The political scientist then turned the argument around, listing a series of actions she described as the true obstacles to good neighborly relations: targeting civilian infrastructure, threatening energy lines, endangering navigation security in the Gulf, and using regional security as a bargaining chip. “Good neighborliness is not achieved through rhetoric alone,” she wrote, “but through respect for sovereignty, cessation of threats, and stopping the export of crises.”

The Gulf, Dr. Al-Ketbi declared, is not an open arena for bidding wars. Any state seeking a normal, constructive relationship with the UAE must engage with it as a sovereign actor with full agency — not as a country expected to reshape its policies to suit the preferences of another capital. “The path to better relations does not pass through threatening or defaming neighbors, but through respecting them,” she concluded.

In her closing lines, Dr. Al-Ketbi drew a clear red line: holding the UAE responsible for crises manufactured by escalatory rhetoric will change nothing. “The UAE is a sovereign state, its decisions are independent, and its security is a red line.”