ABU DHABI, 07 Sept. - (ANA) - A senior official with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) says “no single state” should control the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran said it plans to announce a new “exclusion zone” near the waterway aimed at vessels intending to transit.

 

“Our energy exports will not be held hostage, nor will our trade and economic activity,” Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said at a forum of world leaders in Abu Dhabi.

 

Gargash said Iran should face consequences for threatening oil tankers and commercial vessels in the strait with mines, drones or missiles. “Using an international waterway as an instrument of coercion is unacceptable,” he added.

 

The UAE, a close U.S. ally, has repeatedly come under Iranian missile and drone fire throughout the war. Rebuilding trust between Iran and the Gulf countries could take decades, Gargash warned, because by targeting its neighbors, Tehran has “demolished” any presumption of good faith.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/07 September 2026 - - -