UAE warns against escalation

The United Arab Emirates, a key American ally in the region, did not publicly cheer for Qassem Soleimani's death, despite its longstanding animosity with Tehran.

On the contrary, the UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash called for a "calm approach" to the crisis, decrying the lack of trust between the parties involved in the region.

"In light of the fast-evolving regional developments, it is a must to advance wisdom and prioritize political solutions to confrontation and escalation," he wrote on Twitter in Arabic on Friday. 

"The issues that the region faces are complicated and accumulated, suffering from the lack of trust between the parties involved. Rational action requires a calm approach, free of emotional reactions."

Located across the Gulf from Iran, the UAE, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Iranian expatriates, appears to have moderated its hawkish approach to Iran over the past few months.

Emirati royal Tahnoun bin Zayed, the national security adviser of the country, visited Tehran in October to defuse tensions in the Gulf, Middle East Eye reported at the time, citing a senior security source in the UAE.

Earlier in the year, Abu Dhabi stopped short of accusing Tehran of being behind the sabotage of two oil tankers near its coast, despite statements from US officials blaming Iran directly for the attack.