On Aug. 18, the United Arab Emirates suspended all trade, commercial exchange and financial transactions with Iran “until further notice,” according to an announcement by Afra Al-Hamli, director of strategic communications at the Emirati Foreign Ministry. The stated reason was an escalation of tensions that “undermine regional and international peace and security.”
Hours earlier the Emirati Ministry of Defence had said its air defenses detected two ballistic missiles fired from Iran, both of which fell into the sea—one inside Emirati territorial waters, one outside—and assessed that both were aimed at maritime traffic. Iran denies it. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei called the claim “baseless,” and no U.S. or CENTCOM corroboration of the launch has appeared.
The UAE has been Iran’s principal commercial artery to the outside world, a re-export hub for the sanctioned state, with non-oil bilateral trade running into the tens of billions of dollars annually. And now that avenue is closed.
The way forward is the Extended Oasis Plan, which proposes taking the entire region—almost all of it desert—and developing and greening it: nuclear desalination, canals, and the extension of development corridors. Such an orientation could allow the region to again serve the role it played in the ancient Silk Road, as the hub joining Asia, Africa and Europe.
