UAE security agency busts sabotage cell linked to Iran

ABU DHABI – The United Arab Emirates said on Monday it had dismantled a terrorist cell linked to Iran and arrested its members over a plot to undermine stability, state news agency WAM reported.

The UAE State Security Department (SSD) said it had broken up the group inside the country following an investigation into suspected activities aimed at destabilising national security and cohesion.

According to WAM, the cell was involved in recruitment and mobilisation efforts, with the objective of gaining access to sensitive locations within the Emirates and laying the groundwork for planned acts of sabotage.

Security officials said investigations indicated the group had been preparing what they described as systematic and coordinated hostile activities on UAE territory. The organisation is also alleged to have held clandestine meetings both inside the UAE and abroad, monitored through surveillance operations.

Authorities said the group sought to recruit young Emiratis by promoting what they called misleading narratives designed to encourage allegiance to external actors. It was also accused of attempting to influence public opinion by criticising the UAE’s domestic measures and foreign policy, portraying the state in a negative light.

The SSD further said the organisation raised funds through unofficial channels before transferring money to external entities deemed suspicious by investigators.

Those arrested are accused of forming and managing a secret organisation within the country, pledging loyalty to foreign parties and working to undermine national unity and social peace.

Recruitment activities were reportedly carried out through covert meetings coordinated with external actors, with the aim of reaching strategically sensitive sites.

The security agency added that the group had links to Iran’s system of “Velayat-e Faqih,” a political-religious doctrine under which clerical authority holds governance powers. The system has been in place in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and is embedded in the country’s constitution.

Last month, the UAE announced it had dismantled another alleged “terrorist network” which it said was funded and directed by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran. That group was accused of operating under commercial cover inside the country, attempting to infiltrate the economy and pursue what authorities described as external schemes targeting financial stability.