On Tuesday, July 6, 2010, the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States, Mr. Yousef al-Otaiba, in the aftermath of a public interview session with the Atlantic magazine said that the benefits of U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities outweigh the costs of Iran’s response to such frontal attacks.
OPEN LETTER TO MR. YOUSEF Al-OTAIBA
AMBASSADOR OF THE UAE TO THE UNITED STATES
Mr. Yousef al-Otaiba,
We Iranians at home and abroad are deeply outraged at your dearth of knowledge about Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy endeavor and your poor judgment over the choice of war and peace. On your part it is dumbfounded that the Islamic Republic of Iran has a nuclear weapons program, which in the future would threaten the United Arab Emirates. The paucity of your application of simple and abstract “cost-benefit” algorithm to the complex question of war and peace which involves the existential question of life and death for hundreds of thousands of people in the Middle East, including the people of UAE, is an example of an infantile disorder!
Mr. Yousef al-Otaiba, by advocating preemptive war against 73 million Iranians, much the same as George W. Bush did regarding the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, you have placed the UAE government at the service of the most rabid Zionists and pro-war mongers, such as Benjamin Netanyahu, John R. Bolton, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Admiral Mike Mullen, Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates. The remarks attributed to you will not help the citizens of your own country and your pro-Zionist motives cannot be hidden behind the lie that Iran intends to produce nuclear weapons. Our people will not forget your open hostility to the independent, progressive and prosperous Iran.
Follow-up:
Two days later, on Thursday, July 08, 2010, realizing that the ambassador’s comments had drawn a fiery response from the Iranian government, the Assistant Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Mr. Tareq Al-Haidan, said that the ambassador’s remarks were distorted and taken out of context. To lighten the consequences, he added, “Iran is a neighboring country and we maintain historic relations with it…the UAE respects and believes in the sovereignty of other states and in the principle of non-interference,” according to the UAE official news agency WAM. Al-Haidan said the UAE totally rejects the use of force as a solution to the Iranian nuclear issue and calls for a diplomatic solution through the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Everything taken into consideration, the government of the United Arab Emirates owes the people of Iran an apology for such crude and inflammatory remarks.
Ardeshir Ommani, on behalf of the American Iranian Friendship Committee (AIFC).
