Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps vowed Saturday there would be dangerous consequences for the United Arab Emirates after it announced a historic deal with Israel to open up diplomatic relations.
The UAE is the first Gulf Arab state to do so and only the third Arab nation to establish normalized relations with Israel, Iran's regional archenemy. As part of the US-brokered deal, Israel agreed to temporarily put off its plan to extend sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley.
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The IRGC called the deal a "shameful" agreement and an "evil action" that was underwritten by the US, according to a statement carried by Iran's Sepah News.
It warned that the deal with Israel will set back American influence in the Middle East and bring a "dangerous future" for Abu Dhabi's government.
An ultraconservative Iranian newspaper said Saturday that the United Arab Emirates' decision to normalize ties with Israel has made it a "legitimate target" for pro-Tehran forces.
The Kayhan daily, considered to be the mouthpiece of ultraconservatives in Iran, said the agreement was a "betrayal" of the Palestinian cause.
"The UAE's great betrayal of the Palestinian people and its signing of an agreement to normalize relations with the Zionist regime, if it has only one result, it will be to turn this small, rich country heavily dependent on security into a legitimate and easy target for the resistance," Kayhan said.
Iran's government has strongly condemned the agreement.
The move was an act of "strategic stupidity from Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv which will undoubtedly strengthen the resistance axis in the region," the foreign ministry said on Friday.
The UAE downgraded ties with Iran in 2016 amid fierce rivalry between its ally Saudi Arabia and the Islamic republic.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has also condemned the Emirati move. In a televised speech Saturday, he warned that the United Arab Emirates has made a "huge mistake" in reaching a deal toward normalizing ties with Israel.
Rouhani warned the Gulf state against allowing Israel to have a "foothold in the region."
Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, called the agreement a painful betrayal of Arab and other countries in the region, during a trip to Lebanon on Friday.
Less than 100 people gathered in front of the Emirates embassy in the capital Tehran on Saturday evening to protest the deal. They chanted "death to Israel" and "death to America" and burned an Israeli flag.
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the United Arab Emirates and Israel agreed to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt the annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state.
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The UAE presented its controversial decision as a way of encouraging peace efforts and taking Israel's planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank off the table. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swiftly pushed back insisting the pause in annexation was "temporary."
Trump has presented the US-brokered agreement as a major diplomatic achievement and said he expects more Arab and Muslim countries to follow suit. Israel has quietly cultivated ties with the UAE and other Gulf countries for several years as they have confronted a shared enemy in Iran.
i24News contributed to this report
