“United Arab Emirates Withdraws from International Naval Coalition: Possible Link to Diplomatic Tensions with Iran and Saudi Arabia”

Created in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the “Combined Maritime Forces” is an international naval coalition led by the United States from Bahrain. Currently, it oversees five naval forces.

Thus, deployed notably in the Indian Ocean, the combined naval task force 150 [ou CTF 150, pour Combined Task Force], focuses on the fight against illicit trafficking likely to finance terrorist organizations. CTF-151 has been responsible, since 2009, for fighting piracy off the Horn of Africa, while CTF-152 has the mission of ensuring security in the Persian Gulf. Of more recent creation, the CTF-153 does the same thing… but in the Red Sea. Finally, CTF-154 is responsible for maritime security education and training.

So far, 38 countries have participated in this naval coalition. They are now only 37, the United Arab Emirates having announced, on May 31, that they had just withdrawn for a reason which they did not specify.

“Following the evaluation of the effective cooperation between all partners, two months ago, the United Arab Emirates withdrew its participation in the Combined Maritime Forces”, indeed indicated the Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs, via a press release relayed by the official WAM press agency.

Should we see a link with the announcement made on April 5 by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the appointment of an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, when the position had been vacant for eight years… in due to diplomatic tensions between Tehran and Abu Dhabi. This decision is also part of a larger movement, Iran and Saudi Arabia having begun a rapprochement, under the aegis of China.

Moreover, on May 21, Tehran affirmed that it was “possible” to ensure security in the Persian Gulf – and in particular in the Strait of Hormuz – within the framework of cooperation with its neighbours, those ci should no longer need to seek the support of the United States, whose defensive posture in the region had just been reinforced after the boarding and seizure of at least two oil tankers by Iran

However, the United Arab Emirates is still a member of Operation Sentinel, launched by the United States in 2019, after a series of sabotages targeting oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz. At the time, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were suspected, if not accused, of organizing them.

In addition, and while they had played the card of moderation against Iran despite these suspicions, the United Arab Emirates agreed to also host the headquarters of the European naval operation EMASoH-Agenor, created on the initiative of France in order to “participate in the preservation of the freedom of navigation in the Arabo-Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz”.

Photo : Mztourist – CC BY-SA 4.0