✍ Monitoring section BBC

Benajamin Netanyahu’s recent trip to Abu Dhabi, the Israeli prime minister, has strengthened some of Tehran’s deepest suspicions about the United Arab Emirates. Iranian officials and hardline media have described the meeting as the latest sign of expanding security cooperation between Israel and the UAE against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

These concerns, as well as viewing the UAE as a security threat, have intensified after the recent war—during which Iran repeatedly targeted U.S. interests based in the UAE and the country’s energy infrastructure.

However, the tensions go beyond the recent war. The UAE’s relationship with Israel, the geographical proximity of this country to Iran and the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the longstanding dispute with Israel over three islands in the Persian Gulf, and at the same time extensive economic ties between Iran and the UAE have created a complex relationship in which deep mistrust is intertwined with mutual economic dependence.

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