ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met secretly with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in the Emirates during the US-Israeli war on Iran, his office disclosed on Wednesday, with Iran responding that "those colluding with Israel to sow division will be held to account."

“This visit has led to a historic breakthrough in relations between Israel and the UAE,” his office said on X.

The two countries first tied the knot of an official, normalized relationship with the 2020 Abraham Accords signed during US President Donald Trump’s first term, and their defense partnership has deepened since — making Abu Dhabi one of the most operationally valuable Arab partners.

Throughout the conflict, Iran concentrated its strikes on the UAE more than on any other regional state, including Israel, regularly invoking its cooperation with Israel as rationale. Emirati defense ministry figures show that by the April 8 ceasefire, Abu Dhabi had sustained roughly 550 ballistic missile attacks and 2,200 drone strikes.

Responding to the news of the secret visit, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that "Netanyahu has now publicly revealed what Iran's security services long ago conveyed to our leadership."

"Enmity with the Great People of Iran is a foolish gamble. Collusion with Israel in doing so: unforgivable," he wrote on X.

"Those colluding with Israel to sow division will be held to account."

The UAE is now classified as hosting “hostile bases” under the Islamic Republic’s security doctrine, Iranian lawmaker Ali Khezrian said Thursday, adding that the same designation applies as to the Kurdistan Region.

In Iranian defense doctrine, such a designation allows Tehran to conduct preemptive strikes on actors that could pose a threat to its security, generally encompassing foreign military facilities and, in the Kurdish case, dissident armed groups.

Netanyahu's disclosure came a day after the US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee confirmed an April 27 Axios report that Tel Aviv had provided the UAE with an Iron Dome battery, a Spectro surveillance system, and a version of the Iron Beam laser defense system, along with the personnel required to operate them.

“Israel just sent them Iron Dome batteries and personnel to operate them,” Huckabee said at a Tel Aviv conference, attributing the move to what he described as an “extraordinary relationship” between Israel and the UAE, Israeli state media reported.

"I think that the UAE is an example — they were the first Abraham Accord member, but look at the benefits that they have had as a result," he said.

The transfer represents an unprecedented move: it is both Israel’s first foreign shipment of an Iron Dome battery and the first time the technology has seen operational use in any country other than Israel or the United States.

Also on Wednesday, the UAE designated 21 Lebanese individuals and organizations as terrorists and froze their assets over alleged ties to Hezbollah, coming as Israel waged a parallel war against the Lebanese militant group.