Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attended the BRICS foreign ministers meeting at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, grid reference 43R GM 15980 67204 (28.6139°N, 77.2090°E), on 14 and 15 May 2026, and seized the platform to issue Iran's most direct public indictment of the United Arab Emirates since the war began in February. He told assembled delegates that he had deliberately avoided naming the UAE in his formal BRICS statement, choosing restraint for the sake of unity within the expanded bloc. That calculation changed the moment the Emirati representative spoke.

Araghchi responded with a sharp rebuke that went far beyond diplomatic convention. He told the gathering that the UAE had been “directly involved in the aggression” against Iran from the very start of the conflict, citing its failure to issue even a condemnation of the initial strikes as evidence of its alignment with Washington and Tel Aviv. The confrontation marked the clearest collision between the two states since a previous BRICS deputy foreign ministers meeting in April had already collapsed without a joint statement, partly over the same Iran-UAE fault line.

The backdrop to the exchange was explosive. A day earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office had announced that he had paid a secret visit to Abu Dhabi during the war to meet UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, describing it as a “historic breakthrough” in bilateral ties. The UAE denied any such visit occurred, with its state news agency WAM calling the Israeli claims unfounded. Araghchi referenced the controversy directly, using it as confirmation of what he said Iran had known for some time.

Araghchi's accusations against the UAE, delivered from Abu Dhabi's own BRICS seat at grid 40R BN 34124 07001 (24.4539°N, 54.3773°E), were specific and layered. He charged that Abu Dhabi had placed American military bases on its territory at the disposal of the coalition conducting operations against Iran, opened its airspace and territorial facilities to US forces, and provided intelligence services directly supporting strikes on Iranian targets. He claimed to hold “precise information, confessions from US officials, and clear documents” backing each of these charges.

He was careful to draw a distinction that served Iran's strategic narrative: Tehran had not targeted the UAE itself, but had struck only American assets and military facilities located on Emirati soil. This framing allowed Araghchi to portray Iran as proportionate and restrained while simultaneously holding the UAE morally responsible for the consequences of hosting those assets. “The Islamic Republic of Iran only attacked American targets on Emirati soil,” he stated, according to Iran's Tasnim News Agency, corroborated by Al Jazeera and PressTV.

The Wall Street Journal had published a report on 12 May 2026 stating that the UAE had itself carried out strikes on Iranian targets in early April. Saudi Arabia was also separately reported by Western and Iranian officials to have conducted unpublicised strikes against Iran during the same period. The UAE government had not publicly confirmed or denied the WSJ report at time of publication, though Araghchi referenced it as consistent with Iranian intelligence it had held for some time.

The immediate trigger for Araghchi's escalation at the BRICS table was the Netanyahu disclosure. On 13 May 2026, the Israeli Prime Minister's office announced that Netanyahu had made a secret visit to the UAE during the conflict and met with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, describing it as a “historic breakthrough.” The UAE's official WAM news agency responded within hours, flatly denying any such visit had occurred and insisting that its relations with Israel operate within “the framework of the well-known and officially declared Abraham Accords” and are “not based on non-transparent or unofficial arrangements.” Multiple major outlets including Bloomberg, NPR, the Times of Israel, Al Jazeera, and Euronews reported both the Israeli claim and the UAE denial.

Araghchi had reacted immediately when the story broke, posting on X that “Netanyahu has now publicly revealed what Iran's security services long ago conveyed to our leadership,” and warning that those colluding with Israel “will be held to account.” By the time he arrived in New Delhi, the episode had inflamed the atmosphere between Tehran and Abu Dhabi to the point where the BRICS meeting itself was widely reported to be at risk of producing no joint communiqué. Iran's deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi was quoted by Iranian media citing “problems and communications” attributable to the UAE's presence in the bloc.

The episode also surfaced the deeper structural tension inside expanded BRICS, now including both Iran and the UAE as full members. Both states arrived in New Delhi with incompatible accounts of the war and incompatible demands for how the bloc should characterise it. The UAE, which had received Iranian missile and drone fire after the war began in late February, viewed itself as a victim of Iranian aggression. Iran framed its strikes exclusively as self-defence against US and Israeli military assets located on foreign territory.

Speaking to Tasnim News on the sidelines of the BRICS sessions, Araghchi articulated a sweeping post-war repositioning claim. He told reporters that every bilateral meeting he had held in New Delhi had circled back to the same phenomenon: world governments wanting to understand how Iran had survived the conflict and what its survival meant for the regional order. His framing was that this curiosity was itself evidence of a transformed geopolitical reality that Tehran intended to convert into permanent diplomatic leverage.

“All countries now acknowledge that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the victor in this war, that it managed to thwart the enemies' objectives, impose its will, and gain a new standing,” Araghchi stated, as reported by ANI News, corroborating accounts in PressTV and Daily Beirut. He added that the Islamic Republic had demonstrated it was “a power and an actor that has the ability to counter the greatest powers,” and that this new reality must shape every future regional mechanism. Iran's deputy foreign minister had previously signalled in Telegram posts that Araghchi was pressing BRICS counterparts to issue an explicit condemnation of the US and Israel.

Araghchi also used the platform to restate Iran's position on the Strait of Hormuz, insisting it remains “open for all” commercial vessels that cooperate with Iran's navy. The statement carried direct relevance for India, the world's third-largest oil buyer, which sources roughly half its crude through Hormuz. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who chaired the opening session, had called for “safe, unimpeded maritime flows” without explicitly targeting either Tehran or Washington.

Araghchi's closing message to the UAE was framed as strategic counsel, though its tone left little ambiguity. He told the Emirati representative that both the United States and Israel had failed to protect the UAE despite the military arrangements Abu Dhabi had extended to them. “Just as the American bases carried out all the measures, they also saw the result. It is better for them to change their view toward the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said, as quoted by Daily Beirut and corroborated by Pakistan Today. He reminded the UAE that Iran and the Emirates are neighbours who have coexisted for centuries and must continue to do so regardless of how the current conflict resolves.

The message carried the unmistakable implication that Abu Dhabi's security guarantee from Washington had been tested and found wanting by Iran's willingness to strike US military assets on Emirati soil. Araghchi argued that the only durable path to Gulf security lay not in outside powers, but in regional cooperation, implicitly positioning Iran as the indispensable partner any Gulf state must eventually accommodate. Iran International noted that Araghchi's remarks did not address Iran's own extensive regional activities, including missile and drone strikes on Gulf states aligned with Washington and the activities of Iran-backed armed groups across the region.

The UAE had not issued a public statement in direct response to Araghchi's BRICS remarks at time of publication. Earlier in May, Abu Dhabi had received calls from leaders including Netanyahu who expressed solidarity following Iranian attacks on 5 May 2026. The Emirati government had also separately denied receiving an Israeli military delegation, in contrast to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee's claim that Israel had supplied Iron Dome systems and operators to the UAE.