The Emirates on the Tightrope

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On Sunday, March 22, the United Arab Emirates’ foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan, maternal brother of UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, put on a brave face. The evening prior, President Donald Trump declared that if the Strait of Hormuz was not opened within forty-eight hours, he would order strikes on Iranian power plants. The announcement prompted Iran’s military command to specify that any such attack would bring destruction to the energy, IT, and water facilities servicing the American military within the Gulf. 

Because the power stations and desalination plants on the target list were public utilities, serving resident populations as well as the range of forces directed by US CENTCOM, Iran’s prospective retaliation imperiled practically everyone living in the UAE. Paying little heed to the fact that his own allies were driving the escalation—and, indeed, had started the war itself—the UAE’s foreign minister responded to Tehran’s threat by proclaiming, “We will never be blackmailed by terrorists.”