Brian Hook (L), the US special representative on Iran, listens to Saudi Lieutenant General Prince Fahd bin Turki (C), the commander of the Arab Coalition, during a visit to an army base in al-Kharj, south of the Saudi capital Riyadh, on June 21, 2019. The US said Iran has no right to respond to diplomacy “with military force”, a day after Washington said Tehran shot down a US drone over the Strait of Hormuz. “Our diplomacy does not give Iran the right to respond with military force,” Hook, told reporters in Saudi Arabia. Fayez Nureldine / AFP

The United Arab Emirates on Sunday called for negotiations to defuse tensions between the United States and Iran after Tehran shot down a US drone.

“Tensions in the Gulf can only be addressed politically,” Anwar Gargash, UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, wrote on Twitter.

He said the crisis in the Gulf region “requires collective attention, primarily to de-escalate and to find political solutions through dialogue and negotiations.”

“Regional voices (are) important to achieve sustainable solutions,” said Gargash.

Tehran on Thursday shot down a US surveillance drone which it said entered Iranian airspace, a claim denied by Washington which said the aircraft was above international waters.

Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday summoned the charge d’affaires of the UAE, from where it said the drone was launched, to protest Abu Dhabi’s decision to “put its installations at the disposal of foreign forces for aggression.”

The United States launched cyber attacks against Iranian missile control systems and a spy network in retaliation for the drone incident, according to US media reports Saturday.

Tehran is yet to react to the reports published by The Washington Post and Yahoo News.

US President Donald Trump said Friday he had called off strikes against Iran at the last minute, as such an attack would not have been a “proportionate” response.