The United States is ready to back the United Arab Emirates financially if the economic stress of the war with Iran intensifies, though a senior White House official says it is unlikely to happen.

What happened: CNBC asked National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on Monday about a Wall Street Journal article from the day before about UAE Central Bank Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama speaking last week with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on potential financial support, including a currency swap line. The arrangement would allow the central banks to exchange currencies to provide liquidity to domestic financial institutions, giving the UAE cheap access to US dollars to support its currency and foreign reserves in the event of a liquidity crunch.

“The UAE has been an incredibly valuable ally throughout this effort, and I’m sure the Treasury secretary will make every effort to help them out, should that be necessary,” Hassett said before echoing US President Donald Trump’s previous comments that US-Iran talks had been “moving forward very positively.”

Hassett added that thanks to the UAE's strong finances, a currency swap “probably won’t be necessary.”