29OCT

Baqaei calls the UAE missile claim baseless

2 min read

17:49UTC

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman called the Emirati missile allegation baseless on 19 August, telling Mehr News Agency that unfounded claims damage confidence between neighbours.

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Key takeaway

Iran denies the missile allegation but has announced no answer to the Emirati measure itself.

Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, rejected the Emirati missile allegation as baseless on 19 August. Unfounded claims against Iran damage efforts to prevent regional insecurity and build confidence between neighbours, he told Mehr News Agency⁠¹.

The allegation he is answering dates to 8 August, when the United Arab Emirates said an Iranian missile had targeted an ADNOC vessel in the strait. That claim, and the piracy accusation that followed it, form the stated grounds for the trade and financial halt Abu Dhabi announced on 18 August.

Baqaei disputed the grounds and left the measure alone. He announced no countermeasure, summoned nobody in Abu Dhabi, and named no Emirati official. His phrasing sat in the register of neighbourly confidence-building, which is not the register a government reaches for when it intends to answer in kind.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, said on 19 August that accusations linking Iran to a missile attack on a UAE-linked vessel are false. He argued that making such claims makes the region less safe, because they damage trust between neighbouring countries. This is Iran's direct answer to the UAE's decision, a day earlier, to name Iran's Revolutionary Guard as the attacker and cut off trade. The two governments now disagree publicly about who did what, with no independent verification available to settle it.

What could happen next?

Meaning
Baqaei's denial keeps Iran's public position that it bears no responsibility for the tanker attacks the UAE has cited as grounds for a full trade halt.

Source Landscape

This story draws on mixed-leaning sources from Iran

Iran

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Primary parallel: Baqaei has denied Iranian responsibility for Hormuz-area disputes before; his 13 August comments on strait administration similarly rejected the premise that Iran bears the cost of the conflict's disruption, arguing instead that others owe Iran for environmental damage.

Counter-parallel: Iran's own account of the 11 August Vela Nova strike differs from this case: there, the US openly claimed the strike, leaving Iran nothing to deny. Denial is only available to Tehran when the underlying attack is attributed to it in the first place, which is why this rejection follows the UAE's naming of the IRGC rather than a US claim.

Consensus view: Iran's foreign ministry, through spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, characterises the UAE's missile allegation as unfounded and argues that repeating it undermines confidence-building between neighbours, the same framing Baqaei used on 13 August when he tied any Hormuz administration deal to compensation for environmental damage he blames on the conflict rather than on Iran.

Counter-view: The UAE's own 13 August statement did not rest on this single incident; it formally named the IRGC as the perpetrator of an ADNOC tanker attack and invoked UN Security Council Resolution 2817, a legal step Abu Dhabi does not appear to have reversed since.

Key tension: Whether a categorical denial from Tehran's spokesman carries weight against a formal, resolution-citing attribution from a state that has just cut all trade with Iran on the strength of it.

Sources:Mehr News Agency·Mehr News Agency

Mentions:Esmaeil Baqaei →Iran →Mehr News Agency →Tehran →Emirates →Abu Dhabi →ADNOC →M/V Vela Nova →United Arab Emirates (UAE) →Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) →UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs →

First Reported In

Update #172 · The strait nobody can count, insure or pay

Mehr News Agency· 19 Aug 2026

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Causes and effects

Caused by

Abu Dhabi cuts Iran's payment channel

Baqaei's rejection answers the missile allegation underlying the UAE's trade halt.

Occurred 17 Aug 2026

Read story →

This Event

Baqaei calls the UAE missile claim baseless

Tehran contests the reason Abu Dhabi gave, not the measure Abu Dhabi took.

Different Perspectives

United States (Joint Maritime Information Center)

The JMIC, the US-led naval reporting cell, rated the Hormuz threat "severe" in its 25 October advisory, as reported by gCaptain, and warned of possible renewed mining. Eight days earlier it found no substantiation for the Guards' mine claims, while US-facilitated transits ran at about 34 a day.

United Kingdom (CPS and Counter Terrorism Policing)

The CPS charged two men under the National Security Act 2023 over the RAF Fairford incident, and Counter Terrorism Policing said it believes the foreign intelligence service involved is Iran's, LBC reported. The case now runs through the courts; both men are charged, not convicted.

Aden and Yemen's recognised government

The Houthis told people to leave Aden airport, in the government-held south, before a missile fell there on 28 October, AFP reported, and police reported a second attack that afternoon. The fight between Riyadh and the Houthis is landing on the south's main civilian airport.

Qatar (mediators)

Qatar-led mediators put new terms to Iran this week, which an Iranian official called "ideas, not a proposal". Riyadh framed the Tehran meeting as support for Qatari and Pakistani mediation, keeping Doha at the centre of the indirect channel.

Korea Shipowners' Association

The association said the ships Iran listed were sub-chartered to an overseas oil company, not owned by Sinokor, carried no South Korean crew, and that Sinokor was unaware of the warning. South Korea's shipowners are contesting whose vessels the notice covers before it takes effect.

Kuwait (foreign ministry)

Kuwait summoned Iran's ambassador, Mohammad Toutounji, and handed him a protest note over the embassy's denial that its citizen took part in the alleged plot against Interior Minister Fahad Al-Yousef. Kuwait is answering through its courts and a diplomatic protest, citing international law and the UN Charter.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.