US President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim countries, which has triggered global outrage, is not Islamophobic and does not target any one religion said, United Arab Emirates' foreign minister. Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, foreign minister of the UAE has defended the ban.

He said that most Muslims and Muslim countries are not included in the ban. The affected countries, faced "challenges" that they needed to address, he said.

"The United States has taken a decision that is within the American sovereign decision," he said at a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in the capital Abu Dhabi.

"There are attempts to give the impression that this decision is directed against a particular religion, but what proves this talk to be incorrect first is what the US administration itself says that this decision is not directed at a certain religion."

Gulf Arab countries were largely absent from the condemnation of the ban. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain have traditionally been close US allies. Of the five countries, Qatar was the only one to express mild disapproval, whose foreign minister, during a visit to Serbia said that he hope Washington would reassess the ban.

"When it comes to be addressed in a Muslim framework, I think this is something we will stand against," Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said.

Dhahi Khalfan, a senior Dubai police official, tweeted on Monday "complete support" for Trump's ban. "Every country has the right to protect its security, Trump, what you're doing is right."

"The needs of refugees and migrants worldwide have never been greater and the US resettlement program is one of the most important in the world," the two Geneva-based agencies, United Nations refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration said in a joint statement.

By Premji