UAE hopes for Iran-US deal but says it is braced for the worst

The UAE is still banking on a diplomatic off-ramp between Iran and the United States, but it is not banking on it blindly. Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the Emirati president, told a conference in Manama on Sunday that the region has no appetite for another round of war. At the same time, he said the Emirates is braced for the worst, as it has shown before.

The talks are moving, even if they are not sitting at the same table. A Qatari delegation traveled to Tehran this week, and Iran has since sent envoys to the Gulf state to keep consultations rolling as part of indirect negotiations with Washington aimed at ending the war.

US President Donald Trump dialed up the pressure again on Saturday, saying America still has to take care of one or two targets inside Iran. At the same Manama gathering on Sunday, US Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Donald Blome said Washington cannot let Iran hold the region and the global economy hostage. Blome added that the hand of negotiation has been extended and those channels remain open and active, while stressing the US has also been prepared to go in another direction.

On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump has not yet decided whether to order fresh strikes on Iran, and that the US would be open to a diplomatic solution. That leaves a narrow window where talks and threats are running side by side.

The war itself began on February 28 with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Iran hit back by targeting, among others, Gulf countries allied with Washington, which is why the Emirates is watching this round of shuttle diplomacy so closely.