UAE ‘betrayed’ Muslim world with Israel deal

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday accused the United Arab Emirates of betraying the Muslim world with its agreement to normalise relations with Tehran's arch-foe Israel.

"The #UAE betrayed the world of Islam, the Arab nations, the region's countries, and #Palestine," Khamenei said, according to his official Twitter account.

"Of course, this betrayal won't last long but the stigma will stay with them," he added in a series of tweets.

In the agreement, only the third such deal it has struck with an Arab country, Israel pledged to suspend annexation of Palestinian lands.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that did not mean Israel was abandoning plans to annex the Jordan Valley and Jewish settlements across the occupied West Bank.

"I hope the Emiratis soon wake up and compensate for what they have done," Khamenei said.

"The UAE rulers opened the door of the region to the Zionists, and they have ignored and normalised the question of Palestine."

It was Khamenei's first reaction to the deal.

His remarks came after a US-Israeli delegation landed in Abu Dhabi on Monday on the first direct commercial flight from Tel Aviv to mark the normalisation of ties, with Saudi Arabia allowing the flight to cross its airspace.

The Israeli press gave an emotional thumbs-up yesterday to the event  calling it "the flight of peace.