Iran Unhappy that President Yoon Said that Iran was the Enemy of UAE
If Iran is not a threat to the UAE as Iran claims, then why are U.S. and ROK troops stationed there?:
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s description of Iran as the “enemy” of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has provoked protest from Tehran as it calls Yoon’s remark undiplomatic and asks for Seoul’s explanation.
Korea Times
The government is stepping up to prevent the issue from creating diplomatic problems with Iran.
Yoon made the remarks during his visit to the Akh Unit, which trains the UAE’s special operations forces, Sunday (local time), as part of his efforts to encourage its soldiers.
“You are here because the UAE is our brother nation,” Yoon told the troops. “And (defending) our brother nation’s security is as important as that of South Korea’s. The UAE’s enemy ― the most threatening nation ― is Iran and our enemy is North Korea… We are in a very similar position to the UAE.”
He was on a four-day state visit to the Middle Eastern country when he made the comment.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said the ministry is looking into and following up on the comments of the Korean president on relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the UAE, which are neighboring countries with established diplomatic relations.
The spokesman also said Yoon’s remarks show he is totally unaware of the historical and friendly relations between Iran and the Persian Gulf littoral states, including the UAE, as well as positive developments quickly taking place in this regard.
You can read more at the link.
This is the kind of blunder that makes enemies for no benefit in return. What absolutely was the purpose for upsetting Iran and unnecessarily causing diplomatic anger? He’s not only incompetent, and an America’s puppet avatar, this guy’s fat mouth is a real problem.
KM has a point there.
Korea-Iran relations aren’t that unfriendly and despite the seizure of a Korean chemical carrier two years ago, there isn’t any animosity between the two countries.
So, there’s no need to create unnecessary animosity between Korea and Iran.
ROK troops are stationed there because the UAE requested the ROK government to train its special forces as part of the deal for the UAE to buy ROK reactors. They are not there because of Iran.
The US troops I believe are a legacy of the US’s campaign in Iraq. There are about 2,000 mostly intelligence and air defense types. Not exactly combat units although the US has occasionally rotated fighters to the UAE.
With the exception of Saudi Arabia, the relationship between the other Gulf states and Iran are like the relationship between the ROK and the PRC.
The ROK is wary about the PRC and is careful to not piss it off, but on the other hand is a major trade partner and doesn’t designate the PRC as an “enemy” or a “national security threat”, at least publicly.
So yeah Yoon calling Iran an “enemy” of the UAE doesn’t help matters and makes it look like Yoon will side with the UAE in any disputes involving the UAE and Iran.
Iran is no one’s friend in the region. And only the most ardent opponents of Yoon would try to defend Iran, a nation that regularly murders dissidents and spreads terror throughout the region.
Yoon may be a putz or not; but Iran is not Korea’s friend. And they are not a friend to any other country than possibly Russia at the moment.
It is contemptible to suggest otherwise.
@TOK, the ROK troops may not be in UAE to specifically counter Iran, but there are clearly there to help train UAE troops to help prepare them for any attack from Iran or their proxies in Yemen. It is not like Oman or the Saudis are going to roll across the border to attack them.
US troops have largely the same role of helping train UAE forces to deal with Iran and their proxies. A few years ago the training Islamic State and piracy were also major concerns, but it is pretty clear Iran is the major security threat to UAE right now. According to reports Al Dhafra Air Base is host to 5,000 US troops which is a sizable number. a large part of that is air defense troops to protect the air base from missile attacks from Iran or their proxies in Yemen that have been firing missiles into the Arabian peninsula.
I think that 5,000 is the added number of troops in both KSA and the UAE.
Al-Dhafra Airbase hosts about 2,000 US troops, 3,500 if you add in the US Navy base in Fujairah.
Hardly a “significant” number, considering that most are not frontline combat units.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/10/06/oil-dispute-prompts-call-remove-us-troops-saudi-arabia-uae.html
The US is in the region only for the Petro Dollar – which guarantees that the American fiat dollar stays as the world’s reserve currency. Without the Gulf states backing the US dollar in exchange for their military protection, the US dollar would be worth nothing because it’s backed up by nothing (just printed papers or digitally created numbers). The US is scared sh*t that the Saudis will join the BRIC nations and stops the US dollar transactions for their oil bought by the world.
When it comes to international relations, there are allies who share common economic and military goals, enemies or rivals, and nations in between.
With the exception of the US, KSA and Israel, Iran will fit in the third category for most nations.
Even if Iran isn’t Korea’s “friend”, it doesn’t mean the Korean president should be picking fights when there are no issues between the Korea and Iran.
Yoon’s opponents aren’t defending Iran. They are criticizing Yoon’s gaffe which has created an unneeded and unnecessary foreign relations issue between Korea and Iran.
And to be fair, the US was once Iran’s “friend” during the reign of the Shah. The Shah wasn’t hesitant to use his secret police, the SAVAK to crack down and in some cases murder dissidents. The US, at that time I believe looked the other way, which made it easy for Khomeini to identify the Shah and the US as one, and use that for his own purposes.