UAE ambassador 'threatened US with intelligence withdrawal' over 9/11 responsibility law

The UAE ambassador to the United States threatened to withdraw intelligence cooperation if the families of 9/11 victims were allowed to sue the UAE or Saudi Arabia.

Leaked emails, allegedly taken from the inbox of the ambassador, Yousef al-Otaiba, showed that he warned US senators against passing the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (Jasta) act in September 2016.

This is according to a report by British newspaper The Telegraph.

After Jasta was passed, a lawsuit was filed against the Dubai Islamic Bank in the UAE, claiming it had provided  “financial services and other forms of material support to al-Qaeda ... including the transfer of financial resources to al-Qaeda operatives who participated in the planning and execution of the September 11th attacks."

Otaiba reportedly responded to the news of the lawsuit, saying: "It was going to happen sooner or later."

Two of the 9/11 hijackers held UAE nationality, while fifteen others came from Saudi Arabia.

The Telegraph reported that one e-mail sent by a senior US official to Otaiba on December 1 said he "cannot reach Adel [al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister]" .

Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir confirmed his December trip to the United States was an attempt "to persuade [the US] that there needs to be an amendment of the law", referring to Jasta.