UAE says won't be used by US to spy on Iran

DUBAI, Jan 10 (Reuters) The United Arab Emirates has reassured Iran that it will not allow the United States to use its territory to spy on the Islamic Republic as Tehran faces mounting pressure over its atomic programme.

Reports that the United States had set up an office in the UAE city of Dubai to monitor Iran have fuelled concern over ties between the two neighbours, already strained by a long-standing territorial dispute and worries over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

During a visit to Iran yesterday, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan denied receiving any request to set up such an office and said that his US-allied country was keen to maintain regional stability and peace.

''The UAE has not received any request from the US to open such an office,'' the official WAM news agency quoted Sheikh Abdullah as saying in Tehran.

''I believe there is confusion or a misunderstanding over this matter. All embassies and consulates in the UAE abide by conventions that regulate diplomatic ties,'' he added in comments also carried by local newspapers today.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in November that the United States was setting up an office in Dubai, and that Tehran intended to ''protest and undertake necessary measures to prevent the UAE from becoming a base for America's hostile measures against the Iranian nation.'' A UAE official said after the comments that the Iran monitoring desk was part of the US consulate in Dubai and that no new Iran monitoring offices had been set up.

The UN Security Council in December imposed sanctions on Tehran over suspicions that the Islamic Republic was seeking nuclear weapons, which Iran denies. The United States and Iran have had no diplomatic ties since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Like many Gulf Arab countries, the UAE is concerned about the nuclear programme Iran says is for peaceful purposes. It has also been demanding that Iran accept international arbitration to solve a dispute over Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunb islands, controlled by Iran since the 1970s.

''We may have differences in views and over some issues here and there but such differences will not turn into enmity,'' Sheikh Abdullah said.

''It seems that there is a party that wants to create such an impression, but I stress that we want stability in this region.'' Reuters KD RN1820