UAE fully committed to protecting its territory: Sheikh Abdullah on Mabhouh murder

The UAE definitely cannot and will not tolerate such a crime happening on its soil, commented UAE Foreign Minister of H.H Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on the killing of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, a top Hamas military leader, last January in a Dubai hotel. "The UAE has got full support of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Arab League in following these criminals",- Sheikh Abdullah told reporters at a joint press conference in Abu Dhabi in presence of visiting Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs Markos Kyprianou.

"We are going to be extremely aggressive in showing our right to getting these individuals but also sending a very clear message to whoever is behind (the crime) that the UAE is fully committed in protecting its territories. We look at this crime as not only a crime that has happened on the UAE territory and (therefore constitutes) a violation of the UAE territory It is also a violation of the ID cards and passports of respective European countries and Australia" he said.

"We are pretty much in good contacts with these countries that have been showing a lot of cooperation with us, which we are appreciative of but at the same time this is something the UAE is going to pursue. We are going to do our very best to bring these criminal to justice in the UAE," he stressed.

For his part, Kyprianou said the use of European passports by the killers of Mabhouh is condemned and entails legal action.
On the UAE-Iranian relations, Sheikh Abdullah said apart from the issue of the three UAE islands, now under the Iranian occupation, Abu Dhabi and Tehran maintain improving trade relations and are exchange of visits between the two countries' officials. He expressed the UAE's hopes that Iran would get into agreement with the international community on the issue of its nuclear program. He further expressed hopes the issue of Tehran's nuclear program would be resolved by diplomatic means.
Sheikh Abdullah also made it clear that the UAE, like any other member of the UN, ''will respect any international sanctions could be imposed by the UN Security Council against Tehran.