▲ United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran
Senior national security officials from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran, which have become bitter rivals due to the Middle East war, held a secret face-to-face meeting this week, Bloomberg News reported on June 11 (local time), citing sources familiar with the matter.
If the report is true, it marks the first in-person contact between the two nations since the war broke out on February 28.
The sources told Bloomberg that the meeting held this week represents a "stark turnaround" for both sides, noting a "growing acknowledgment of the importance of calmer bilateral ties."
Relations between the UAE and Iran were not bad prior to the war.
For Iran, the UAE served as a bypass route to evade economic sanctions, while the UAE gained security benefits by managing a friendly relationship with Iran.
However, once the war broke out, Iran heavily targeted the UAE, which had been enjoying the greatest economic prosperity in the Middle East.
Although the pretext was that U.S. military bases in the UAE were being used for attacks on Iran, Tehran shook the security and economic infrastructure of the UAE—the "hub of the Middle East"—to pressure the United States.
Relations between the UAE and Iran plunged to their worst after reports emerged that the UAE had directly participated in airstrikes on Iran in coordination with Israel.
Regarding this face-to-face meeting, Bloomberg explained that "the UAE leadership wants to smoothly pursue its bold economic ambitions, such as expanding oil production and investing in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers."
This means they decided that to continue driving economic prosperity, they could not leave Iran—located just tens of kilometers away—as a constant source of security instability.
The media outlet also pointed out that the UAE was one of Iran's largest trading partners before the war and a key bypass route for sanctioned Iranian crude oil, explaining that Iran also has a need to improve relations with the UAE.
Sources said that the UAE's motivation for engaging in the face-to-face meeting was to seek a detente (easing of tensions) after realizing that while it views Iran as an enemy, the Iranian regime is unlikely to be removed from power.
Bloomberg analyzed that "the UAE appears to be following a path similar to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are seeking to improve relations with Iran," adding that "while these Gulf nations suffered massive losses from Iranian attacks, they are conscious of the need to coexist with Iran across the Persian Gulf, which has a population of 90 million and formidable military power."
Sources said that although the UAE had taken a hardline stance against Iran, it failed to convince neighboring Gulf states to join, and its calculations regarding Iran changed due to the prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a fragile ceasefire, and the deadlock in U.S.-Iran negotiations.
Perhaps thanks to these efforts by the UAE, when Iran retaliated against U.S. attacks this week, it targeted Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan, but excluded the UAE, which had previously been a "primary target."
One of the sources also noted that the meeting was the culmination of several attempts by Iran to resume high-level contacts with the UAE.
The source added that the UAE had delayed the meeting because it wanted to ensure that its interlocutors had a direct line to the new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
This implies that the UAE was trying to identify who holds the real power under the new leadership structure established after a large portion of the Iranian leadership was killed in explosions.
Another source said the channel for the meeting opened after Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan visited China and met with President Xi Jinping.
(Photo: Getty Images)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.