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Opinion | The Emirates' message: Iran is considered a threat - but talking to everyone | Israel today

2021-12-13T18:57:51.888Z


The concern expressed by security officials in Israel about the rapprochement between Iran and the Gulf state is incomprehensible • Only last month, military forces from the Emirates participated in the naval maneuver with Israel and the United States, which was intended to send a strong message to the Iranians


Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's visit to the United Arab Emirates, and his meeting with Crown Prince Muhammad bin Zayed, could only be seen as a sign of further warming between the two countries, which gained momentum during the first year of its establishment. And the pounding of war drums in the background.

It can be said that all the signatories to the "Abrahamic Agreements" - the Gulf states, Israel and the US, which was the mediator - understand that the moment of decision is approaching, and that there are only two options. Less, or the "military option" will become an inevitable alternative, as was already discussed in Defense Secretary Gantz's talks in Washington last week.

This is why the Iranian race for the bomb will naturally become one of the main topics in Bennett's talks with the regent, alongside the promotion of bilateral relations.

The Gulf states are rightly concerned about the possible consequences of the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities by the United States, Israel or both, both because of their proximity to Iran and because the Iranians have repeatedly made it clear to them that they are dissatisfied, to say the least, with their alliance with Jerusalem.

Bennett and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Photo: Haim Tzach, GPO

The concern expressed by security officials in Israel about the rapprochement between Iran and the United Arab Emirates is less understandable, as expressed in a visit to the Emirates last week by the Emirates' national security adviser, Tahanon Ben Zayed, alongside the hope expressed by those unnamed officials that Bennett will succeed in "stopping this rapprochement."

It is true that the visit to Tehran by the adviser, the half-brother of Regent Ben Zayed, is the first visit by a senior figure from the UAE in five years;

And it is true that it was conducted against the background of the fear among the Gulf states, and also of Saudi Arabia, that it is not possible to trust only Biden's America to provide them with protection from the Iranians - and therefore we should also talk to Tehran.

But the UAE has not switched sides.

A connection that could become a secret channel for Iran

Just last month, military forces from the Emirates participated in a joint naval maneuver with the United States and Israel in the Red Sea, designed to send a strong message to the Iranians. For the time being, it eliminates the dilemma in Israel whether to sell the Iron Dome system to the Gulf for missile protection. By the Americans as a military project.

This is not a change of sides, nor is it a surprising warm-up of relations between the Emirates and Iran at the expense of relations with Israel.

The emirates have been trading with Iran for years, but see the ayatollahs' regime as a threat to their security and the security of the Gulf, and believe that Israel can be trusted to help them in any way possible.


The whole point is that the heir to the throne, Muhammad bin Zayed, who met with Prime Minister Bennett today, wants to see and present himself as a powerful factor in an area that can talk to everyone - both Israelis, Americans and Iranians.

In circumstances where the Vienna talks would get into a dead end crisis, it is precisely this connection of the Emirates that could become a secret channel of transmitting messages between the parties, just before the planes take off.

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Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2021-12-13

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