Authorities in the UAE have announced that they have shut down a “terror network” allegedly operating in the country with Iranian support.
Per a report from WAM, the Emirati state news agency, the organisation was funded and operated by both the Islamic Republic and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah.
Investigators believe it was involved in “money laundering, financing terrorism and threatening national security,” the report added.
It continued: “The network had been operating within the country under a fictitious commercial cover and sought to infiltrate the national economy and carry out external schemes threatening the country's financial stability.”
Its members have now been arrested and its operations halted, investigators have confirmed.
Neither Iran nor Hezbollah has commented publicly on the announcement.
However, it comes after Iran launched waves of strikes against its neighbours in the Gulf, including the UAE.
While it initially primarily targeted US military bases in the region, the Islamic Republic has subsequently expanded its bombardment to critical energy infrastructure.
In response, a number of Gulf states have requested an emergency debate at the UN Human Rights Council to discuss Iran’s “military aggression” towards them.
A diplomatic note was sent by a “coalition of Arab nations” to the council calling for an “urgent” change to its schedule, according to Hilel Neuer, director of human rights NGO UN Watch.
Neuer told the JC: This is a turning point. For the first time, Arab states are leading a charge at the Human Rights Council to condemn Iran. Tehran targeted civilians in blatant attacks on its Arab neighbours, in a bid to make them pressure the US to stop hitting the regime. But the gambit backfired, and now even cautious regional actors are going after Iran on the world stage like never before.
“The Iranian regime is more isolated than ever. As we saw at the Security Council, they have very few allies. The real question is whether the UN Human Rights Council — a body notorious for appeasing terrorist regimes — will take action strong enough to match the gravity of Iran’s aggression, flagrant violations of international law, and war crimes targeting civilians."
A strike on the world’s largest gas production facility in Ras Laffan, Qatar, has also prompted international outrage, as well as a spike in gas prices, which are up 25 per cent in Europe since the start of the war.
US President Trump has insisted that Doha was not aware that Israel was going to attack the South Pars gas field, for which the Ras Laffan strike was retaliation, and threatened to “massively blow up” the key link in Iran’s gas supply chain if it targets Qatar again.
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