Netanyahu Visits United Arab Emirates During Iran War
Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited the united arab emirates during the war with Iran and met President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed in Al-Ain, an oasis city near the border with Oman. The meeting lasted several hours, and Netanyahu’s office later described it as a "historic breakthrough" in relations between Israel and the UAE.
Al-Ain Meeting
The location matters because Al-Ain was not a routine stop. A source quoted by said the meeting took place there, placing the talks away from the public settings usually attached to high-level state visits.
The visit also sat inside a wider wartime security picture. On Tuesday, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Israeli Iron Dome air defence batteries had been sent to the UAE during the war, calling it an "extraordinary relationship between the UAE and Israel" based on the Abraham Accords.
UAE Air Defence Pressure
The Emirates were under direct pressure during the fighting. The UAE Ministry of Defence said on 10 May that air defence systems had engaged two drones launched from Iran, and the UAE said it had engaged a total of 551 ballistic missiles, 29 cruise missiles, and 2,265 since the war broke out in late February.
Iran also hit several targets in the Emirates during the conflict. That makes the Netanyahu meeting more than a symbolic exchange: it came while the UAE was dealing with missile and drone threats and while Israel had already been drawn into the same war.
Diplomacy and Conflict
Emirati presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said on Wednesday that "the UAE remained committed to political solutions and diplomacy" and posted that "Arab-Iranian relations in the Gulf cannot be built on confrontations and conflicts." He also said the UAE had not sought the war and had worked to avoid it.
The friction point is clear in the diplomatic record. On Monday, the reported that the UAE had also carried out strikes on Iran that it had not yet publicly acknowledged, including one reported strike on a refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in early April. The UAE has not publicly framed its role that way, while its public line has stressed diplomacy.
The broader war environment still shapes what happens next. A ceasefire has been in place between the US and Iran for about a month, but Iran has continued to block the Strait of Hormuz in response to US-Israel strikes, and the US has been enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports to pressure Tehran to agree to its terms.
On Sunday, Iran sent a counter-offer to the US with demands to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Donald Trump rejected the proposal as "totally unacceptable" and a "piece of garbage," then said the ceasefire was "on massive life support," while Mohammad Ghalibaf said Iran’s armed forces were "ready to respond and to teach a lesson for any aggression."
