UAE quietly reopens Iran channels while deepening US, Israel ties: Report

Abu Dhabi’s stance reportedly shifted after it was clear the military campaign against Iran would neither collapse the system nor break the IRGC  

News Desk - The Cradle 

The Financial Times (FT) reported on 28 July that the UAE has quietly been reopening diplomatic and economic channels with Iran while simultaneously deepening its military ties with Washington and Israel.

As financial activity returns to the UAE after months of war, the airport has quietly resumed Iranian flights for the first time since the fighting began. Emirati authorities are also readmitting around 20,000 Iranian residents of the UAE who were abroad when the war began.

The UAE was an active participant in the US-Israeli war on Iran, not only hosting US bases used to launch strikes on the Islamic Republic but also carrying out its own military attacks, according to a 12 May report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

As a result, the UAE absorbed the heaviest Iranian retaliation of any country in the region. Since the April truce, however, Abu Dhabi has reportedly shifted its approach toward Iran.

The UAE has quietly reopened diplomatic and commercial channels with Tehran, moving to ease the strain while keeping its military ties to Washington and Tel Aviv intact. 

The Iran–US memorandum of understanding (MoU), aimed at extending the ceasefire and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, accelerated the UAE's economic outreach to Iran, with Abu Dhabi agreeing to resume some trade and allow Iranian flights to return.

UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ) had delegated the Iran file to three of his brothers, including national security advisor Tahnoon bin Zayed. 

The thawing of relations between the two countries reportedly began with a call between UAE Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister Mansour bin Zayed and Iranian Speaker of Parliament and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. 

Emirati academic Abdulkhaleq Abdulla says Tehran opened the dialogue, and that Emirati thinking shifted once it became clear the war on the Islamic Republic could neither collapse the government nor defeat Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) outright. 

The opening of relations has not displaced the security relationship with Israel and the US. 

Israel's embassy in Abu Dhabi has doubled in size, making it one of Tel Aviv's largest diplomatic missions anywhere. 

An Israeli official said defense companies now maintain a permanent presence in the UAE, with some having operated there before the war but their footprint now considerably larger.

Meanwhile, Washington has significantly eased Emirati access to US military equipment and to the chips underpinning the UAE's bid to become an AI hub as a reward for Abu Dhabi's role during the war on Iran, and as part of the US’s Pax Silica initiative – a drive to lock down the global AI supply chain and shut out China. 

Renewed attacks between the US and Iran over the past two weeks have dented a recovery that had been building, with one Emirati executive telling FT that developers have turned nervous again.