Apr 03, 2026 16:44 pm IST

Opinion | 450 Missile, 2,000 Drone Attacks Later, Why Is UAE Still Not Fighting Iran?

The UAE is Iran's second-largest trading partner and also home to roughly half a million Iranians. Why, then, has it absorbed more fire than any other Gulf state?

Aditi Bhaduri Aditi Bhaduri Columnist

Aditi Bhaduri Columnist

According to the latest statistics released by the UAE Ministry of Defence, the country's air defences have engaged 457 ballistic missiles, 19 cruise missiles, and 2,038 drones launched by Iran. This makes the UAE the biggest target of Iran since the joint US-Israel war on it began on February 28. In fact, on the very first day, Dubai airport, the city's famed Burj Al-Arab hotel, the landmark Palm Jumeirah, and Jebel Ali port were hit by missiles.

Exasperated by these attacks, the UAE, reports say, has asked the US to continue the war in Iran and complete the job there. In the latest update, however, it has ruled out putting boots on the ground in Iran but has signalled its willingness to join any multi-nation endeavour to open up the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping.

These developments spotlight a complex relationship between the two neighbouring states that share waterways, communities, and extensive trade links.

The UAE is Iran's second-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to around $25-27 billion annually. In 2024, Iran imported over $20 billion worth of goods from the UAE, making it Iran's largest single source of imports. At the same time, Iranian non-oil exports to the UAE were more than $6 billion. Around half a million Iranians live and work in the UAE, with the community having stayed there for decades, preceding the birth of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

Yet, tensions have persisted - territorially since the UAE's birth in 1971, and ideologically since the Iranian Islamic revolution in 1979, spilling over into wider geo-strategic considerations.

Territorially, Iran and the UAE are locked in a dispute over three tiny islands - Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb. The largest, Abu Musa, has a population of only around 2,000 people. But they occupy an extremely strategic location - sitting as they are at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, whose importance by now needs no further explanation. These islands serve as useful bases to monitor maritime traffic through the Strait and........

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