Anwar Gargash, adviser to the UAE President, has issued a sharp public rebuke of Iran, warning that attempts to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz or encroach on UAE maritime sovereignty are, in his words, “fragments of dreams.”
In a post on X, Gargash said the region had grown accustomed to “Iranian bullying over long decades until it became part of the political landscape in the Arabian Gulf,” adding that credibility had been eroded by what he described as aggressive rhetoric paired with hollow professions of friendship.
He framed Iran’s current posture as an attempt to consolidate gains from a position of weakness. “After the brutal Iranian aggression, the regime is trying to consecrate a new reality born from a clear military defeat,” he wrote, without specifying which military incident he was referring to.
Gargash closed with a conditional offer, setting out the terms under which trust between Iran and its Arab neighbours could be restored. “Whoever wants to coexist with its Arab surroundings must realize that trust is lost, and restoring it is not achieved through slogans, but through responsible language, safeguarding sovereignty, and genuine commitment to the principles of good neighborliness.”
The post, written in Arabic, is among the most direct public statements from a senior UAE official on Iran’s posture in the Gulf in recent weeks.
