Iran has dismissed as “baseless” a series of allegations from the United Arab Emirates that link a newly uncovered alleged terrorist network on Emirati soil to ideological currents associated with the Islamic Republic.
The diplomatic flashpoint followed an announcement by the UAE State Security Department on Monday that authorities had dismantled what they described as a “terrorist organization” and detained 27 of its members. In an unusually public move, the UAE’s state news agency WAM published the full names and mugshots of those arrested.
What Emirati investigators say they uncovered
According to the State Security Department, the group had been engaged in covert activity aimed at undermining national cohesion and destabilising the country, including the planning of “systematic terrorist and sabotage operations” on Emirati territory.
The statement alleged that the suspects had sworn “allegiance and loyalty to external parties” and held clandestine meetings to recruit supporters. Investigators further claimed the network had attempted to gain access to sensitive sites and had raised money through informal channels, before transferring those funds to “suspicious external entities”.
The central — and most politically charged — element of the announcement was the assertion that the organisation’s activities were connected to Iran’s “Wilayat al-Faqih” doctrine, the clerical governance principle that underpins the political system in Tehran.
Why Tehran has responded with such force
Iran’s Foreign Ministry moved swiftly to repudiate the claims. Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei described the UAE’s allegations as “baseless” and founded on “unfounded pretexts”.
Mr Baghaei went further, framing the Emirati announcement as an attempt to redirect public attention away from what Tehran portrays as the wider regional context. “Raising such unfounded claims and creating anti-Iranian narratives cannot distract public opinion from the direct responsibility of the supporters and backers of the American and Israeli aggressors in the military attack against Iran,” he said.
A widening Gulf dispute
The exchange marks a notable downturn in the tone between Tehran and Abu Dhabi, whose relationship has often navigated a careful path between commercial pragmatism and regional rivalry. By publicly tying the alleged plot to an ideology associated with the Iranian state — and by releasing the identities of those detained — the UAE has placed the accusation firmly in the public domain.
For its part, Iran has drawn a direct line between the UAE’s announcement and the broader confrontation involving American and Israeli military action against its territory, suggesting that it views the episode less as a domestic Emirati security matter than as part of a coordinated regional effort to isolate it.
