Iran Tracker

Reaction to June 2009 Iranian Presidential Election:

In June 2009, the UAE congratulated Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his re-election following the June, 2009, presidential elections. In a statement, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan criticized what he described as foreign meddling on the part of the West and said that"[t]he UAE was one of the first countries to congratulate President Ahmadinejad. All countries in the region are in the same boat in believing that it's not in the interests of any country to be exposed to instability."[1] In August 2009, in time for Ahmadinejad’s inauguration, UAE President Khalifa Bin Zayed again offered his country’s congratulations to his Iranian counterpart. During their telephone conversation, the two leaders agreed on the importance of expanding bilateral cooperation.[2]

Nuclear:

The United Arab Emirates has claimed that it is committed to upholding the UN Security Council’s sanctions against Iran. According to Saeed al Marri, deputy director of the Federal Customs Authority, “if there is a UN resolution regarding certain goods not going to Iran, we will uphold it.”[3] In September 2008, however, the United States charged sixteen companies, including five that were based in Dubai, with exporting dual-use goods – materials that can be used for civilian or nuclear weapons industries – to Iran in violation of Security Council sanctions.[4] Beyond acting as a conduit for goods to a sanctioned Iran, the UAE has also publicly stated it opposed any military confrontation over Iran’s nuclear program.[5]  In December 2008, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States – plus Germany held a meeting with eight Arab states – Bahrain Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – to discuss how the UN could apply pressure to Iran to suspend its nuclear enrichment.[6]  Similarly, in April 2009, US Special Adviser for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia Dennis Ross visited Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar to discuss diplomatic efforts to engage Iran on its nuclear program.[7]

The apparent strength of Iran-UAE bilateral relations has been a source of concern for the United States. In July 2009, Howard Berman, the chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, lamented that "[f]or many years, Iran has sought to use the UAE as a transit point to illicitly procure items to support its nuclear and other WMD (weapons of mass destruction) programs." The congressman called into question “the extent to which the UAE has been a reliable partner of the United States in working to prevent Iran’s efforts to develop a nuclear weapons capability."[8]  The US Treasury Department announced in July 2009 that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will meet with officials in the UK, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and France to discuss international sanctions against Iran's nuclear program. The announcement of Geithner’s visit to Europe and the Middle East came days after the Group of Eight (G8) reaffirmed its commitment to finding a “diplomatic solution to the issue of Iran’s nuclear program,” however refrained from explicitly raising the threat of new sanctions.[9]

Economic Relationship:

The United Arab Emirates is Iran’s top trading partner: their economic exchange totaled over $12 billion dollars in trade in 2007, a number which has since grown despite increasing UNSC sanctions. [10] The UAE has called for the further expansion of economic ties with Iran, suggesting that Dubai would consider signing a memorandum of understanding with Tehran to improve the two countries’ bilateral ties. [11] According to the Iranian Business Council in Dubai, more than 10,000 Iranian companies do business in the UAE, and Iran is the biggest market for the Emirates’ non-oil exports and re-exports, which allows third parties to sell to Iran while avoiding UNSC and American sanctions targeting Iran. [12] The UAE also has private investors in Iran, such as the Emirates Telecommunications Corps, which will invest over $1 billion in building communications infrastructure in Iran.[13]  In May 2009, ministers from the UAE participated in a conference on foreign investment in Iran hosted in Tehran.[14] 

The Emirates’ willingness to cooperate with Iran has caused tension with the United States by complicating the enforcement of sanctions against Iran. In November of 2008, the U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levy explained that "there is a challenge in the (United Arab Emirates) especially because of deep commercial ties between the UAE and Iran.” [15]

Despite these ties, a member of the Iranian parliament’s Energy Commission, Moayyed Hosseini Sadr, announced in August 2009 that Iran will likely seek nullification of a gas deal with the UAE’s Crescent Company. According to Sadr, “considering the infractions by the Emirati side, any relevant international legal body would vote for the nullification of the deal.” The agreement stipulated that Iran export 350 million cubic feet of gas per year to Kuwait by 2009, but Tehran broke the agreement after market conditions turned unfavorable.[16]  Despite such failed deals between the two countries, in September 2009 an unnamed Emirati company signed a 25 year contract to import natural gas from Iran.[17]

[Click here for more information on UAE’s business activity in Iran.]

Diplomatic/Military Relationship:

Iran and the United Arab Emirates have enjoyed strong bilateral relations for many years. Both countries are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the Non-Aligned Movement—OPEC and NAM, respectively—and have had extensive cooperation outside of these multilateral forums. Though the two countries have been in a low-level dispute over the ownership of three islands in the Persian Gulf—the Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Mousa—for many years, they still enjoy very close relations based largely on extensive and mutually beneficial economic relations.

In October of 2008, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid an official state visit to the UAE. During the visit, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding that outlined the development of a joint UAE-Iran committee designed to increase bilateral cooperation.[18] Highlighting the improvement of bilateral relations, UAE President Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan presented the Iranian ambassador to United Arab Emirates, Hamid Reza Asefi, with the Order of Independence in July 2009. The honor was granted to laud the ambassador’s role in strengthening Iran-UAE ties in several different fields.[19]

In August 2009, the Financial Times reported that the United Arab Emirates had seized a ship bound for Iran after discovering several containers of North Korean weapons. The vessel, the Bahamian-flagged ANL-Australia, was carrying rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition supposedly ordered by an Iranian company linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The ship was searched in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolution 1874, which widened earlier prohibitions on arms imports and exports to and from North Korea.[20]

In October 2009, Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayeh al Nahyen addressed the ongoing island dispute between Iran and the UAE, saying Iran should stop meddling in Arab affairs emphasizing that Iran is both “an important neighboring country” and an “economic partner” but that “Iran should end its occupation of UAE’s islands”.  The foreign minister said that the “sovereignty of three islands in the Persian Gulf was hampering greater ties” between the UAE and Iran.[21]