After UAE cuts trade ties, Iran warns Gulf countries against aiding US

Iran’s armed forces warned Gulf countries against assisting the US military on Wednesday, hours after the United Arab Emirates announced it was severing economic ties with Tehran following new attacks on shipping.

The Gulf is dotted with US military installations, including in the UAE, which said on Tuesday that Iran had fired two ballistic missiles at vessels off its coast.

Iranian armed forces chief of staff Ali Abdollahi warned on Wednesday “that any assistance or facilitation provided to the aggressor US military amounts to participation in the US military operation,” according to the Mehr news agency.

“It seems unlikely that such a large number of military aircraft, particularly refueling aircraft, could be present at regional bases without knowledge of host countries,” said Abdollahi, adding Gulf countries “should know that we are fully aware of the situation”.

UAE halts all economic dealings with Iran

On Tuesday, the UAE announced that it was suspending all economic dealings with Iran.

“In light of regional escalations… all trade, commercial exchanges, and financial transactions with Iran have been halted until further notice,” foreign ministry communications director Afra Al Hameli said.

Earlier in the day, Abu Dhabi accused Iran of firing two ballistic missiles towards the country. It later clarified the salvo was directed at shipping, with both missiles falling in the sea, one of them within the UAE’s territorial waters.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei “categorically rejected the United Arab Emirates’ claim that Iran had launched a missile towards that country”.

Trump says ‘No talks’ with Iran

Diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict have stalled, but US President Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner said on Monday that the United States and Iran were having “very positive and active conversations”.

The president, however, denied that was the case on Tuesday, again insisting that the Strait of Hormuz was open, despite the Iranian blockade having throttled traffic for months.

“There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Naval Blockade remains in full force and effect,” Trump wrote on social media, referring to a US counter-blockade of Iranian ports.

Earlier Trump had posted a map showing the Strait of Hormuz as a “NEW U.S. Territory”, echoing a previous threat to annex the conduit for oil and gas shipments.

The US has largely paused military operations, with US media reporting the war has put a strain on stockpiles of essential munitions, which Trump and the Pentagon have publicly denied.

The USS George Washington aircraft carrier is being redeployed to the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln following reports of deteriorating living conditions for its crew.

Türkiye rejects Israeli claims after strike on Syria air base

Türkiye rejected on Wednesday Israeli allegations that it posed a threat by preparing to send troops to a base in Syria, which was hit in a strike that the US blamed on Israel.

The strike marked extraordinary defiance by Israel of the US, which has sought to support Syria’s new government.

“Israel and Syria agreed to a status quo in security matters, which Syria was on the verge of breaching by permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement after a day of official silence by Israel.

The Turkish government slammed Israel’s remarks in a statement on Wednesday quoted by the Anadolu state news agency.

“The frivolous allegations put forward by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office aim to legitimize Israel’s unlawful airstrikes targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it said.

US envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, said earlier Tuesday it was confirmed that Israel carried out the strikes on the Abu Duhur air base in Idlib province.

The attacks “constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability”, Barrack, a business friend of Trump who is also ambassador to Türkiye, wrote on X.

Israel-Syria: An ongoing military dispute

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on Syria since the December 2024 toppling of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

It has also sent troops into a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Israeli-occupied Golan since 1974, and carries out regular incursions deeper inside Syrian territory. But the strike goes much further into Syria than the so-called security zone.

Last month, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani demanded an unconditional withdrawal by Israel, warning that “the unlawful occupation of our land beyond the 1974 line is a direct threat to the security of the region”.

But last week Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that his country planned to keep troops in Syria.

UN chief Antonio Guterres on a visit to Damascus last month said that “violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are unacceptable and must cease,” adding that “the Golan Heights are Syrian territory.”

Israel captured most of the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and later annexed the areas under its control, in a move not recognized by most of the international community.