The brutal, deceptive, and premeditated Iranian aggression against the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, and Jordan on February 28, 2026, changed the nature of the confrontation with the Iranian aggressor and altered the rules of the game in the Gulf region. After years of pursuing a policy of containment and caution in dealing with the Iranian enemy and its sleeper cells, as well as proxy confrontations with Tehran-affiliated militias in the region, the consequences of which the region endured for a long period, this brutal attack crossed the thresholds of traditional deterrence. This compelled the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and the other Gulf states to clearly and carefully reconsider their strategic calculations, without any accommodation or goodwill in dealing with the expansionist regime of Velayat-e Faqih (Wilayat al-Faqih in Arabic, meaning guardianship of the jurist), and also to rethink ways of protecting their national security in light of geographic proximity and the need to develop all their national strategies to confront these strategic and future Iranian challenges and threats.
The brutal Iranian enemy transformed its war with the United States and Israel into an Iranian war against the Arabian Gulf, seeking to realize its premeditated ambitions toward the Arab Gulf states. Without any justification, it targeted their security, stability, and infrastructure at three times the scale of its attacks against Israel. The Gulf states did not initiate war; rather, Tehran imposed war upon them. Given the large number of Iranian missiles and drones to which the UAE was subjected, responding became a national and existential duty to protect our assets and national security, safeguard our people, and defend our dignity. We did not choose to remain neutral spectators while our national assets were being destroyed before our eyes under the pretext of avoiding escalation with Tehran, reducing the brutal Iranian aggression to a confrontation between only two powers, “Iran and Israel,” without any respect or consideration for the rights of the Gulf peoples and states that had remained neutral.
It was as though the Gulf states were of no value whatsoever in Iran’s arrogant perspective, even when defending themselves. The rights of the Emirati people and any tampering with their security constitute a “red line” that no one may be permitted to cross, whatever the pretexts or arguments. In the UAE, we will never accept being marginalized in the Arabian Gulf region or having our legitimate and legal rights denied, as though we had no value or existential standing in the region. If Iran does not respect the Emirati people and UAE sovereignty and observe the principles of good neighborliness, then it will be compelled to do so by force and in humiliation. The UAE needs no assistance from anyone in defending itself and its dignity, nor does it require anyone’s assistance in preserving and defending all its legitimate and legal rights in the region.
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