The UAE is "better prepared" for a resumption of full-scale war should it happen, a senior official said on Thursday, amid a US-Iran diplomatic deadlock and growing signs of a potential return to major confrontation between the two countries.
Dr Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, chairman of the Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federal National Council, was speaking to journalists in Dubai.
Asked by The National about the possibility of war resuming and the country's level of preparedness, Dr Al Nuaimi said the UAE is “better prepared than it was on February 28”, when the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran, which sparked the regional war.
“The war can resume, yes,” he said, adding that “the readiness” in the UAE was in “all aspects” and that “whatever is needed to protect the country and the people, we will do it”.
A ceasefire began in June when the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding intended to pave the way for a final peace settlement.
US President Donald Trump declared the truce and MoU “over” in early July after renewed Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and retaliatory American strikes.
Both sides have indicated in recent weeks that they are preparing for a resumption of hostilities.
At the peak of the war, Iran attacked the UAE and other Gulf states with ballistic missiles and drones, attempting to strike civilian infrastructure, including energy sites and airports.
The UAE was the most heavily attacked country, facing more than 550 ballistic missiles and 2,265 drones, most of which were intercepted or destroyed before reaching their targets.
In April, the UAE State Security Department said it had dismantled a terrorist organisation operating inside the Emirates. The department sanctioned the arrests of the group's members over suspected involvement in activities aimed at undermining national unity and carrying out planned sabotage operations inside the country.
The organisation was discovered to be holding secret meetings inside and outside the UAE, surveillance reports said. The group was also found to be trying to recruit young Emiratis by spreading “misleading ideas” in the hope of gaining their support for “foreign allegiances”.
The UAE also announced the dismantling of a “terrorist network” funded and operated by Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran and the arrest of its members. The network was said to have been operating in the UAE using a fake commercial cover and had tried to infiltrate the national economy and conduct “external schemes” against the country’s financial stability.
Dr Al Nuaimi said “hundreds” of members of Iranian sleeper cells were arrested, including several Emiratis, after they were “caught guiding Iranian [attacks using] missiles and drones” to hit targets in the UAE. “They wanted to undermine and destroy this model,” he said.
Despite this, he said, dialogue remains a priority for the UAE. He added that if Iran took one step towards rebuilding trust, the UAE would take further steps in response, but stressed that, for now, “we don't trust them”.