Senior UAE official calls for ambitious dialogue with Iran

• UAE's President diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash says restoring trust with Tehran is difficult but necessary.
• Gargash says Gulf states lacked a unified strategic response to Iranian attacks.
• He cites Iranian missile and drone attacks, tanker strikes, and threats to US-linked bases.

Restoring trust with Iran will be a difficult but essential endeavor, a senior United Arab Emirates official said on Monday, offering a potential diplomatic path forward despite persistent security threats and repeated military strikes across the Gulf.

Speaking at the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi, Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, emphasized that geography gives Gulf nations no option other than direct engagement with Tehran.

"Our dialogue with Iran should be ambitious. It should move beyond transactional issues and address the larger strategic questions confronting the Gulf: security, non-interference, freedom of navigation, economic cooperation, and ultimately the rebuilding of confidence," Gargash said.

Acknowledging the severe rift caused by months of hostility, Gargash added: "Trust is the mountain we will have to climb, and there is something worth climbing towards."

"Geography leaves us no alternative to engagement, but we must distinguish clearly between rebuilding a necessary and functional relationship with Iran and rebuilding the trust that has been broken. The first is necessary. The second will be far more difficult," he noted.

Lack of collective strategy

In a frank assessment of regional coordination, Gargash stated that Gulf countries failed to unite effectively to counter the threat posed by Iran during the Middle East war.

While individual states defended themselves, they did not establish a joint regional defense mechanism.

"Individually, we demonstrated strength and resolve in responding to Iran's attacks. Yet, what worked so effectively at the national level did not translate with the same effectiveness to the regional level," Gargash said.

He contrasted the recent response with past geopolitical crises, stating: "I do not believe that collectively we rose strategically to the magnitude of the threat in the way the Gulf did following the invasion of Kuwait, or when confronted by the turmoil of the Arab Spring."

He concluded that Gulf states ultimately fell short in "translating that shared understanding into a sufficiently united and strategic response."

3,300 missiles, drones hit UAE

The diplomatic messaging comes against a backdrop of intense military friction across the region. Iran previously launched strikes against America's Gulf allies after US and 'Israeli' strikes in February severely crippled the Islamic Republic's leadership structure.

Located across the Gulf from Iran near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the UAE bore the brunt of Tehran's initial offensive, facing 3,300 missiles and drones during the early weeks of the conflict.

Although a temporary detente appeared to take hold following a June ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, maritime security remains fragile.

Commercial tankers belonging to state-owned oil firm ADNOC have suffered repeated attacks in recent weeks, while Tehran claims to have targeted UAE military bases housing US troops in recent days.

The UAE denied a missile attack occurred on its air base during Iran's initial claim and offered no comment on subsequent Iranian statements regarding attacks on UAE facilities.