The UAE has a message for the oil markets: regional war or not, the crude keeps moving. Speaking at the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi on September 7, 2026, Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s presidential diplomatic adviser, announced that Abu Dhabi is actively building out alternative trade corridors to make sure Iran cannot hold its energy exports hostage, no matter how the conflict evolves.
Iran has struck UAE territory with missiles and disrupted oil tanker traffic since the conflict formally ignited on February 28, 2026, following US and Israeli strikes on Iran. The Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant portion of global oil supply flows, has sat under credible threat ever since.
Building around the bottleneck
The UAE is expanding eastern port capacity, extending pipeline networks, and building out rail infrastructure specifically to reduce dependence on the Strait as the single chokepoint for its energy exports.
The Habshan-Fujairah pipeline is the clearest example of this thinking already in action. That existing link bypasses the Strait entirely, connecting oil fields inland to the port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman. By early June 2026, the UAE had used facilities like this one to recover oil exports to roughly 85% of pre-war levels, a notable rebound given the scale of disruption that followed February’s strikes.
