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United Arab Emirates

August 24, 2026

Abu Dhabi 4:50 am

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Khor Fakkan Container Terminal

Analysis

UAE-Iran trade relationship becomes key test of Trump’s wartime strategy

The Gulf state suspended trade with Iran after new attacks in August. Experts point to risks for both sides as the Trump administration seeks to squeeze Tehran economically.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Iranians drive past an anti-US billboard at Enghelab Square in central Tehran, Aug. 3, 2026.

Trump’s Iran ‘economic D-Day’ threat sends oil prices above $94

In a Truth Social post, the president threatened that any country that provides a financial lifeline to Iran will face "tremendous economic consequences."

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP via Getty Images

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Iraq seeks special Hormuz access from Iran in scramble to keep oil flowing

As Iran's parliament speaker holds talks in Baghdad, Iraq has asked Tehran for special consideration for its oil exports.

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UAE halts all trade ties with Iran after missile attack

Ships are docked along a pier at the Khor Fakkan Container Terminal, the only natural deep-sea port in the region and one of the major container ports in Sharjah Emirate, along the Gulf of Oman on July 14, 2026.

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Oil nears $92 on UAE missile alert as Trump claims Iran talks stuck

Leon Neal/Getty Images

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Sudan ramps up Saudi Arabia, Turkey contacts amid growing Red Sea cooperation

Sudanese army soldier stands in front of a tank

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

Vanessa Ghanem

In Dubai, reporting on business, energy and politics

Mohammed Soliman

In Washington, DC, reporting on Gulf politics

A Kuwaiti trader wearing a protective mask follows the market at the Boursa Kuwait stock exchange in Kuwait City on March 1, 2020. - Boursa Kuwait decided to close the main trading hall due to the COVID-19 coronavirus disease developments. Stock markets in the oil-rich Gulf states plunged on March 1 over fears of the impact of the coronavirus, which also battered global bourses last week. All of the seven exchanges in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which were closed the previous two days for the Muslim

GCC states race for foreign investment

Despite the Saudi-led effort to bury the hatchet with Qatar, unified economic policies are coming up against by GCC countries’ needs to win foreign investment post-COVID.

Latifa_bint_Mohammed_bin_Rashid_Al_Maktoum_by-Tiina-Jauhiainen.jpg

UAE says Princess Latifa 'cared for at home' amid hostage claims

After Sheikha Latifa claimed she was being held hostage, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights asked the Emirati government to provide evidence that she is alive.

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UAE dismantling base in Eritrea following drawdown in Yemen

Images from The Associated Press show vehicles and structures being removed from the Emirates' military base.

United Arab Emirates

UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash speaks during a press conference in Sudan's capital Khartoum on January 14, 2020. - Gargash arrived in Sudan for a two-day visit. (Photo by ASHRAF SHAZLY / AFP) (Photo by ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP via Getty Images)

UAE diplomat Gargash replaced in Cabinet reshuffle

Gargash will serve as diplomatic adviser to the Emirati president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

United Arab Emirates

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - FEBRUARY 09: A man reacts as Hope Probe enters the orbit of Mars at Burj Park on February 09, 2021 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. If successful, the UAE's space program would be the fifth to reach the Martian orbit, after the US, Russia, the EU, and India. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)

UAE probe reaches Mars' orbit

Hope Probe launched in July and is the first Mars mission conducted by an Arab state.

United Arab Emirates

An Egyptian soldier stands guard during an organised tour for diplomats to mark the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of the Suez Canal, in the northeastern city of Ismailia on November 17, 2019. - One hundred and fifty years after the Suez Canal opened, the international waterway is hugely significant to the economy of modern-day Egypt, which nationalised it in 1956. The canal, dug in the 19th century using "rudimentary tools" and which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, was opened to navigation i

Egypt concerned UAE-Israeli pipeline project will affect Suez Canal

Egyptian officials have been expressing concern over the anticipated competition from the Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline project that would transport Emirati oil to Ashkelon in Israel and from there to European markets.

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Israel's Netanyahu postpones trip to UAE and Bahrain amid virus surge

The prime minister cited Israel's suspension of flights for pushing back the historic trip to the Gulf.

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UAE ambassador confident US F-35 deal will be fulfilled

"You can't … take tools away from your partners who are expected to do more," Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba said Monday.

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Mask-clad employees of Air Arabia wait to assist passengers board the first flight to Sharjah after the resumption of air travel between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, at Qatar's Hamad International Airport on January 18, 2021. - The first direct flights since 2017 between Qatar and its former rivals Egypt and the UAE took to the skies on January 18, following the end of a regional crisis. The first commercial flight from Qatar to Egypt in three and a half years, an EgyptAir service to Cairo, took off

UK bans travel from UAE

The United Kingdom's decision follows historic highs in daily COVID-19 cases in the United Arab Emirates.

United Arab Emirates

Biden administration pauses arms sales to Gulf pending review

The freeze includes the F-35 deal for the United Arab Emirates and bombs for Saudi Arabia.

Emirati activist held under 'abhorrent' conditions, rights group says

Since his arrest in 2017, Ahmed Mansoor has been held in solitary confinement without access to basic necessities, Human Rights Watch said.

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A member of an Israeli tech delegation uses his phone in a video call during an evening meeting with Emirati counterparts at a hotel in Dubai on October 25, 2020. - Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed on October 19 to visa-free travel, an unprecedented arrangement between Israel and an Arab state, signed after the first ever official UAE delegation landed in Tel Aviv. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP) (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Emirati investors highly interested in Israeli high-tech, agro-tech

According to estimates, $1 billion in investments between Israel and the United Arab Emirates were made in the last two months of 2020.

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