Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited the United Arab Emirates and met its president during the war with Iran. According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, the Israeli Prime Minister held talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The statement described the meeting as leading to a historic breakthrough in relations between Israel and the UAE. However, no details of the breakthrough were disclosed.

 

However, the UAE has denied reports of the Israeli Prime Minister’s visit. In a social media post, the UAE Foreign Ministry said the reports were false and stressed that its relationship with Israel is open and based only on the officially announced Abraham Accords. It said there were no secret meetings or unofficial arrangements. 

 

Iran reacted strongly to these reports. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned Gulf countries against cooperating with Israel and said any country helping Israel against Iran would be held to account.