Senior UAE official: Iran’s attacks will push Gulf states closer to Israel

A top adviser to the United Arab Emirates’ president says that Iran’s attacks on Gulf states are pushing them closer to Israel and to the US.

“Iran’s full-throttle attack on the Gulf states will actually strengthen the Israeli role in the Gulf, will not diminish it,” Anwar Gargash says during a Council on Foreign Relations event.

“We’re not seeing 2,000 Israeli missiles and drones targeting us,” says Gargash. “We’re seeing 2,000 Iranian missiles and drones targeting us.”

“For countries that have relations with Israel, this is — you know, this relationship, in my opinion, will be even more strengthened,” he continues. “For countries that don’t have, I expect… that more channels will be open.

“I think for countries that are seeking to buttress also their defense, their technology, I think it will be more linked. And I think this is also the folly of this Iranian strategy, an Iranian strategy that will actually make the Gulf — make Israel less of a threat and Iran more of a threat,” he says.

“In this war we are seeing how important that American connection is,” he continues, “although that American connection — we might criticize it over a certain defense system or over a certain of lack of response… overall I think the Iranian folly of targeting the region is not in any way diminishing the America[n] role. I think it’s strengthening the America[n] roles.”