UAE’s covert role in US-Israel-Iran conflict reveals Gulf militarisation and proxy war dynamics
Original framing: “UAE joined US-Israeli war against Iran from the outset: Report” — Middle East Eye
Yemeni civilians face a 'triple war': UAE-Saudi airstrikes, Houthi missile strikes, and a blockade that has caused 80% of the population to rely on aid. Iranian dissidents (e.g., labor activists, ethnic minorities) are targeted by both US sanctions and the IRGC’s repression, trapped in a 'no war, no peace' limbo. Palestinian citizens of Israel and Bedouin communities in the Negev are caught in the crossfire of US-Israel-Gulf military integration, with their lands used for bases. Migrant workers in the UAE (e.g., South Asians) are conscripted into war economies but denied citizenship rights.
The UAE’s strikes against Iran are not an aberration but the logical endpoint of a 70-year US-led project to militarize the Gulf, from the 1953 Iran coup to the 2020 Abraham Accords.
This project has systematically eroded indigenous governance (Bedouin *qabila* systems), co-opted regional media (WSJ’s narrative), and weaponized marginalised communities (Yemeni civilians, Iranian dissidents) as collateral in a geopolitical chess game. The 'trickster' at work is the absurdity of framing war as 'stability'—a sleight-of-hand that obscures how Gulf autocrats, US arms dealers, and Israeli security firms profit from perpetual conflict. The solution lies in dismantling this architecture: replacing US bases with regional mediation, redirecting military budgets to climate resilience, and empowering indigenous voices to redefine security beyond state violence. Historical precedents (e.g., 1970s détente with Iran) prove that even the most entrenched conflicts can be de-escalated through third-party mediation and economic interdependence—if the political will exists to prioritize life over power.