Andrew Dowell

To this point, they've been concerned about defining themselves as a combatant because that's a posture that could outlive Trump's interest in the war and leave them at odds with a...

with a big neighbor right across the Persian Gulf for an extended period.

They're looking at the situation and realizing that they are in fact a combatant, that Iran isn't just shooting at US interests in the UAE, but took aim at things like luxury hotels, iconic buildings, the airport several times in what they consider to be a deliberate attempt to sow panic and kind of undermine their economy and create pressure to end the war.

And it's not a situation they think they could live with.

The other thing is that Iran's making very clear that it wants to have an extended administrative role over the Strait of Hormuz even after the war is over, which could involve charging tolls or deciding who gets to go through and doesn't get to go through, which again is just completely unacceptable to the UAE.

Their economy is largely dependent on energy, which flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

They have a big shipping industry, which also relies on free access through that waterway, and they get food through there.

And so they're trying to rally people

support for a military solution to change things.

The journals reported that Trump is considering ending the war without resolving the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, which to them is sort of a worst case scenario.

That's right.

Yeah.

So the main thing they're doing is lobbying for passage of a UN resolution that was introduced by Bahrain, under which the Security Council would authorize the use of force to open the Strait of Hormuz, which would give any country that wanted to participate in an effort like that diplomatic cover or, you know, the cover of kind of international legitimacy in order to go ahead.

So that's one thing.

And standing on the side of that resolution is standing on the side of military action against Iran, which is a major step for a Gulf country.

And then, as we've reported, they're willing to get involved.

And, you know, it's a small country with a small military, but they do have the potential to do things on the water, like potentially sweep mines.

They are probably the best positioned country along the Strait, aside from Iran.

So there's the possibility of using bases.

And, you know, yeah, they can provide support for the actual, you know, kind of military combatants.