Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi stood before the Arab Media Summit in Dubai and described what she called a “recalibration,” a word that understates the scale of what the UAE is now undertaking. The Strait of Hormuz crisis has forced the country to ask a harder question: which alliances actually serve its people’s security and prosperity, and which ones simply look good on paper?
The answer, Al Kaabi suggests, is driving the UAE outward in every direction, from Europe to the Pacific islands. This is not a pivot so much as a deliberate broadening, a refusal to depend on any single partner in what she characterizes as a polarized world divided into competing camps.
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Recent weeks have illustrated the scope of that effort. President Mohamed bin Zayed traveled to Germany, where the two nations hold a strategic partnership valued at more than 40 billion euros spanning defence, security, technology and business. Al Kaabi describes that engagement as a model for the relationships the UAE intends to deepen, ones built on clear mutual benefit in technology, education, sustainability, culture and defence capabilities.
Meanwhile, the UAE’s own role in defence is changing. Edge Group, the country’s defence manufacturer, plans to open an office in France to market UAE-made systems across Europe. The country is no longer only a buyer of military equipment. It is positioning itself as a seller, using industrial capability as a form of diplomatic standing.
The American relationship has not been abandoned. Al Kaabi reaffirms the US as a key ally in defence, security, technology and investment. But her framing is careful. The UAE is not aligning itself with any single bloc. It is, she says, willing to build bridges with any nation that shares its interests in prosperity, investment and development.
That principle has taken Al Kaabi to places rarely on the UAE’s diplomatic itinerary. She attended the Pacific Forum in Palau and visited Timor-Leste and Fiji, engaging with island nations on shared challenges. The Strait of Hormuz crisis has had ripple effects well beyond the Middle East, affecting commodity prices and economic stability in distant Pacific and Caribbean nations. Al Kaabi is direct about what she found: these islands carry genuine ambitions and a sense of responsibility that deserves recognition beyond stereotypes.
Iran sits at the center of all of this, geographically and diplomatically. The country is less than 100 kilometers from the UAE’s shores. A large Iranian community lives inside the Emirates. Trade relations continue despite recent tensions. Al Kaabi does not minimize what happened. What occurred, she states, was unfortunate and will require rebuilding trust, a process that is neither quick nor simple. She is equally clear that shutting the door to dialogue would move in the wrong direction.
She is also clear that the UAE will not pretend the recent experience did not happen. What occurred, she says, is something the nation can never forget and will remain entrenched in the memory of all who lived through it. The solidarity shown by the population has been overwhelming. Keeping the window of dialogue open, she argues, is not weakness. Trust requires conversation.
On the specific question of Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, Al Kaabi is unambiguous. Any strait constitutes international waters under international maritime law, and that principle must be solidified. Accepting a different precedent in the Strait of Hormuz, she warns, could invite similar claims elsewhere. The UAE will continue pressing this point, because the stakes extend far beyond bilateral relations to the fundamental order of international commerce and security.
What remains unresolved is how quickly trust can be rebuilt with a neighbor this close, and whether the UAE’s expanding web of partnerships will hold together under continued pressure from the region’s instability.