“This was a worst-case scenario,” Anwar Gargash, diplomatic advisor to the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said of Iranian missile and drone attacks against his country and other Gulf states over the past two months and the diplomatic fallout they caused. Speaking to Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe on the sidelines of the inaugural Europe Gulf Forum on May 16, Gargash explained that, prior to the conflict, every Gulf state had a “containment and outreach to Iran, whether it was mediation, whether it was formal agreements. In the case of the UAE, we thought that trade connections would actually create that web of connectivity where we have shared interests.”
“All that, in my opinion, has failed,” Gargash told Kempe, when Iran responded to the US and Israeli operations against it by attacking Gulf infrastructure and civilians. In the interview, Gargash also shared his views on why Iran has targeted the UAE more than other Gulf states, why he thinks the Gulf Cooperation Council has not done enough in response to Iranian aggression, what the conflict means for the Abraham Accords, and why deepening Europe-Gulf collaboration is a promising path forward.
The Europe Gulf Forum was hosted by the Antenna Group, in partnership with the Atlantic Council, in Costa Navarino, Greece, on May 15-17, 2026.
