{"id":109846,"date":"2026-05-12T09:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/109846\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T09:44:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:44:15","slug":"israel-sent-iron-dome-to-uae-during-iran-war-us-ambassador-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/109846\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel sent Iron Dome to UAE during Iran war, US ambassador says"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) \u2014 Israel<\/a> sent Iron Dome<\/a> anti-missile batteries and personnel to operate them to the United Arab Emirates to defend the country during the Iran war<\/a>, the U.S. ambassador to Israel said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The comments by Mike Huckabee<\/a> underline the growing defense relationship between Israel and the UAE, countries long suspicious of Iran, as a shaky ceasefire<\/a> still holds in the Iran war. It represents the first publicly acknowledged deployment of Israel\u2019s military to the Emirates, a federation of seven sheikdoms on the Arabian Peninsula home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.<\/p>\n

However, the narrow Strait of Hormuz remains in Tehran\u2019s chokehold and negotiations between the U.S. and Iran appear at a standstill for the moment \u2014 raising the risk of the conflict breaking out again.<\/p>\n

Huckabee<\/a>, a Baptist minister, former governor of Arkansas and one-time presidential candidate, made the comment on stage at an event in Tel Aviv, Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to say a word of appreciation for United Arab Emirates, the first Abraham accord member,\u201d Huckabee said at the Tel Aviv Conference. \u201cJust look at the benefits. Israel just sent them Iron Dome batteries and personnel to help operate them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United Arab Emirates<\/a> diplomatically recognized Israel<\/a> in 2020. That drew immediate criticism from Iran, long Israel\u2019s main regional enemy. Iran did not immediately respond to Huckabee\u2019s remarks, though it has repeatedly suggested over the years that Israel maintained a military and intelligence presence in the Emirates. <\/p>\n

Israeli deployment comes as UAE signals strength<\/p>\n

The UAE and Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the acknowledgment by Huckabee. However, Huckabee\u2019s remarks came after the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, was quoted as saying the same during an event at the Israeli mission there Monday night \u2014 suggesting this was an intentional release of the information, likely with the Emiratis\u2019 and Israelis\u2019 blessing. <\/p>\n

It comes as the UAE has faced Iranian missile and drone fire even after the ceasefire was reached in the war and has been trying to signal to nervous investors and the public it remains open for business and safe. The UAE also has closed down Iranian government-linked sites in the country since the war began. The Emirates long has been used by both the Iranian government and average Iranians as a place to safely do business offshore from the Islamic Republic. <\/p>\n

On Thursday during a visit to the Emirates by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan accompanied him to an air base where Egyptian pilots and Rafael fighter jets were stationed \u2014 the first acknowledgment of a detachment operating in the UAE. Sheikh Mohammed and the UAE strongly backed el-Sissi as he rose to power in 2013 and in the years since. <\/p>\n

Huckabee urges other Gulf states to recognize Israel<\/p>\n

Huckabee added that he was \u201cvery optimistic\u201d that additional countries in the region will soon join the Abraham Accords, the 2020 diplomatic recognition deal that also included the Gulf Arab kingdom of Bahrain, for formal relations with Israel. <\/p>\n

However, many Arab states remain incensed by Israel\u2019s wide-ranging military campaigns after Hamas\u2019 2023 attack on the country, which has seen the Gaza Strip leveled and Iran\u2019s allies attacked across the wider Mideast. Israel now controls territory in Lebanon and Syria as well.<\/p>\n

Huckabee in his remarks also sought to shore up U.S. support for the recent war, suggesting that \u201cIsrael is the appetizer, America has always been the entr\u00e9e\u201d for Iran\u2019s theocracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gulf states now understood they will have to make a choice \u2014 is it more likely they will be attacked by Iran or Israel?\u201d Huckabee asked. \u201cThey see that Israel helped us and Iran attacked us. Israel is not trying to take over your land, and is not sending missiles to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) \u2014 Israel sent Iron Dome anti-missile batteries and personnel to operate them to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[37783,197,1829,34,196,37,199,324,12760,14573,768,3352,272,11384,323,200,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-109846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iran","8":"tag-abdel-fattah-el-sissi","9":"tag-general-news","10":"tag-international-agreements","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-iran-war","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-israel-government","15":"tag-mideast-wars","16":"tag-mike-huckabee","17":"tag-mike-waltz","18":"tag-military-and-defense","19":"tag-mohammed-bin-rashid-al-maktoum","20":"tag-united-arab-emirates","21":"tag-united-arab-emirates-government","22":"tag-united-states-government","23":"tag-war-and-unrest","24":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116560964064084567","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}