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The United Arab Emirates has told allies that it would participate in a multinational maritime task force intended to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as it lobbies to form a coalition to ensure shipping is able to pass through the vital Gulf waterway.
The UAE told the US and other western states that it would take part, according to three people familiar with the situation, two of whom said Abu Dhabi would deploy its own navy. The move reflects its hardened stance towards Iran as it bears the brunt of Tehran’s retaliation to the US’s and Israel’s war.
“The focus is on creating as broad an international force as possible,” one of the people said. “It’s not about going to war with Iran. Iran went to war on the global economy and people need to stand up.”
The UAE is also working on a UN Security Council resolution with Bahrain to provide any future task force with a mandate, but Russia and China could oppose the move, the person said.
Tehran’s attacks have slowed traffic through the strait — through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas normally passes — to a trickle. Gulf states are concerned that Iran could seek to maintain control even if the war ends.
There is growing conviction among some Gulf states and the Trump administration that there is no easy means to reopen the strait without naval escorts.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that the administration was working towards ships freely being able to transit the strait “as quickly as we can”.
The UAE — which has a relatively small but modern navy — is trying to push dozens of countries to create a “Hormuz Security Force” to defend the strait from Iranian attacks and escort shipping, unclogging a blockage that threatens to keep oil prices elevated and strangles supply chains into the Gulf states.
Senior Emirati minister Sultan al-Jaber, who discussed the issue with US vice-president JD Vance in Washington this week, said that “Iran holds Hormuz hostage, every nation pays the ransom, at the gas pump, at the grocery store, at the pharmacy”.
The US’s Nato allies have so far resisted Donald Trump’s push for them to help escort shipping through the strait, with the American president repeatedly chastising the transatlantic organisation and its members.
Bahrain is the only other Gulf state backing the plan, two of the people said, and the UAE hopes to secure the approval of Saudi Arabia as well as other international partners.
The UAE military would join any multinational force, participating fully within the multinational force, one said.
Abu Dhabi’s toughened stance stands out among the other five Gulf states. The UAE and Bahrain, the latter of which has historically taken a more hawkish stance on Iran, were the only two Gulf states to sign a joint statement last week with western nations that condemned Iranian attacks on merchant shipping and the de facto closure of the strait.
Other Gulf states are also furious about Iran’s attacks on its neighbours, especially after they sought to convince Trump not to go to war and publicly stated that they would not allow their territories to be used to attack the Islamic republic. But there has not been a unified response.
The Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, are caught between wanting Trump to inflict more damage and urging a negotiated end to the war. They also fear that the US could abruptly withdraw and leave a wounded, more radical regime.
Gulf officials and regional analysts believe Tehran has little incentive to open the strait because it sees it as a critical point of leverage in the war.
States in the region may also accelerate plans to build pipelines and rail infrastructure to move energy resources overland to Oman or the Mediterranean, two officials said.
Oman, the only Gulf state to publicly criticise the US and Israel’s decision to go to war, says it is working “intensively to put in place safe passage arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz”.
Cartography by Steven Bernard