A UAE senior diplomat denied the country had targeted “friendly countries” or American citizens in a cyberspying program, Reuters reported.

According to the source, the program involved a hacking team of US mercenaries.

The Reuters investigation found that the UAE used a group of American intelligence contractors to help hack rival governments, dissidents and human rights activists. The contractors, former US intelligence operatives, formed a core part of UAE’s cyber hacking program called Project Raven. 

According to Reuters, Project Raven also intended for Americans and staff of the French, Australian, UK embassies.

When asked about Project Raven by reporters at a briefing in New York, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash acknowledged the country has a “cyber capability,” but denied targeting US citizens or countries with which it has good relations.

“We live in a very difficult part of the world. We have to protect ourselves. We don’t target friendly countries and we don’t target American citizens,” he added.