UAE says opposes interference in Iran

DUBAI, June 22 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates, a Gulf energy producer, said on Monday that instability in Iran was not in the region's best interests and described foreign interference there as unacceptable.

Iran has accused Britain and the United States of interfering to provoke street protests against the re-election last week of its hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"We believe that interference from any party in Iran is unacceptable," UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said in comments made in Turkey and carried by Al Jazeera television.

"The UAE was one of the first countries to congratulate President Ahmadinejad. All countries in the region are in the same boat in believing that it's not in the interests of any country to be exposed to instability."

Arab states have given a muted response so far to the unfolding events in Iran.

Led by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, some Arab countries accuse Iran of meddling of its own, through its backing for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah and Shi'ite groups in Iraq.

But many of the smaller Gulf Arab states lying across the Gulf waterway from Iran have maintained close ties with Tehran. Some have nationals of Iranian origin, Shi'ite minorities and Iranian ex-patriate communities.

(Reporting by Andrew Hammond; editing by Michael Roddy)