DUBAI: The UAE is committed to political solutions and diplomacy but has a right to defend its sovereignty, a senior advisor to the Emirates' president said on Wednesday.
Anwar Gargash made the statement hours after President Donald Trump landed in Beijing for talks with Xi Jinping, which are expected to include the Iran war.
The UAE diplomat said the world was watching the visit and how it may impact the Middle East.
The UAE has been the Arab Gulf country most heavily targeted by Iran during the conflict with Israel and the US. Iran fires missiles and drones at the UAE last week for the first time in weeks since a ceasefire was declared.
Gargash said the UAE did not seek the war and had worked to avoid it.
"Arab-Iranian relations in the Gulf cannot be built on confrontations and conflicts, in a region whose peoples are bound by deep-rooted geographical and historical ties," Gargash said in a post on X.
He added that the UAE will protect its sovereignty with "strength, efficiency, and steadfastness," but that its priority remained with political solutions as the path to achieving peace and stability.
