U.A.E. Wants to Force Hormuz Open and Is Willing to Join the Fight
Gulf state begins effort to persuade U.S. and others to open waterway by any means necessary
- The United Arab Emirates is preparing to help the U.S. and allies open the Strait of Hormuz by force, a shift in stance after Iranian attacks.
- The U.A.E. is lobbying for a U.N. Security Council resolution to authorize action and suggested that the U.S. occupy strategic islands.
- The Iranian strikes have reduced the U.A.E.’s air traffic and tourism, hurt its property market and led to a wave of furloughs and layoffs.
The United Arab Emirates is preparing to help the U.S. and other allies open the Strait of Hormuz by force, Arab officials said, a move that would make it the first Persian Gulf country to become a combatant, after being hit by Iranian attacks.
The U.A.E. is lobbying for a United Nations Security Council resolution that would authorize such action, the officials said. Emirati diplomats have urged the U.S. and military powers in Europe and Asia to form a coalition to open the strait by force, the officials said. A U.A.E. official said the Iranian regime thinks it is fighting for its existence and is willing to bring the global economy down with it in a chokehold on the strait.
The U.A.E. official said the country had reviewed its capabilities to assist in securing the strait, including efforts to help clear it of mines and other support services.
The Gulf state has also said the U.S. should occupy islands in the strategic waterway including Abu Musa, which has been held by Iran for a half-century and is claimed by the U.A.E., other Arab officials said.
In a statement, the U.A.E. Foreign Ministry pointed to a separate resolution passed by the U.N. condemning Iran’s attacks on its cities and to one made by another U.N. body, the International Maritime Organization, condemning the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Emirati Foreign Ministry said there is “broad global consensus that freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz must be preserved.”
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states are now turning against Iran’s regime and want the war to continue until it is disabled or toppled, Arab officials said, though they have stopped short of committing their military. Bahrain, a close U.S. ally that hosts the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, is sponsoring the U.N. resolution, with a vote expected Thursday.
The U.A.E.’s newly assertive approach is a fundamental shift in its strategic outlook, said officials from a Persian Gulf state. Dubai, the commercial center of the U.A.E., has long financed the Iranian regime. Emirati diplomats were racing to mediate between the U.S. and Iran before the war, an effort that included a visit to Abu Dhabi by Ali Larijani, an Iranian national-security official who later died in an airstrike.
Now, the Gulf state is falling into line with President Trump’s push for allies to carry more of the burden in the war, particularly to help open the Strait of Hormuz. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Trump has told aides that he is willing to end the war without reopening the strait, leaving the matter to other countries.
U.A.E. participation in freeing the strait carries risks. It could set the stage for tension that outlasts the end of the war.
Iran has reacted by stepping up its bombardments of the U.A.E. After proceeding at a low level for weeks, Iran’s missile and drone attacks on the Emirates have risen sharply in recent days, including nearly 50 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones Tuesday. Tehran warned it would destroy the vital civilian infrastructure of any Gulf state that supported any operation to seize its territory and specifically pointed to the U.A.E.
“They could step into this war only to face a more aggressive Iran, continue to absorb hits to critical infrastructure and potentially investor confidence, and then struggle to rebuild ties with their neighbor, particularly if Trump elects to declare victory before reopening the strait or crippling Iran’s missile and drone capabilities,” Elizabeth Dent, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former official who focused on the Gulf at the Pentagon, said of the dilemma faced by countries in the region.
Iran has rained down more missiles and drones on the U.A.E.—almost 2,500 thus far—than it has aimed at any other country including Israel. Nonetheless, the U.A.E., like the rest of the Gulf region, had long tried to avoid defining itself as a combatant.
Gulf officials said the country’s position has now changed. Before the war began Feb. 28, the U.A.E. saw Iran as a difficult neighbor with a logic to its political positions, one of the officials said. But the outbreak of the war revealed a very different regime that was trying to sow panic with strikes on hotels and airports in Dubai, the official said.