Washington (Somalia Today) – Figures close to US President Donald Trump have encouraged the United Arab Emirates to take a more direct role in the war with Iran by seizing Lavan Island, The Telegraph reported.
Some in Trump’s circle have suggested that Abu Dhabi should move against the Iranian island, which the UAE reportedly struck in secret military attacks in early April, the British newspaper said, citing a former senior Trump security official.
“Go take ’em!” the official was quoted as saying. “It would be UAE boots on the ground instead of the US.”
The reported proposal comes as the UAE faces growing scrutiny over its role in the 11-week war, which has pulled Gulf states deeper into confrontation with Tehran and accelerated a regional realignment around Washington, Israel and Abu Dhabi.
Island proposal
Lavan Island lies in the Gulf and hosts important Iranian energy infrastructure. Any attempt to seize it would carry serious military and diplomatic risks, particularly in one of the world’s most sensitive maritime corridors.
The UAE has not publicly acknowledged carrying out strikes inside Iran. But recent reports have said Abu Dhabi secretly attacked several Iranian targets in early April, including Lavan Island.
The allegations add a new layer to the UAE’s long and tense relationship with Iran over Gulf islands. Abu Dhabi has for decades disputed Tehran’s control of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, which Iran took over in 1971, shortly before the UAE was founded.
Lavan, however, is a separate and far more explosive question. A move against it would shift the conflict from missile exchanges and covert strikes to a direct territorial confrontation with Iran.
The UAE’s foreign ministry has said Abu Dhabi’s actions remain defensive and aimed at protecting its sovereignty, citizens and infrastructure.
It said the country reserves “all its sovereign, legal, diplomatic and military rights” to respond to any threat, claim or hostile act.
UAE under pressure
The war has hit the Emirates harder than many of its neighbours. Iran has launched waves of missiles and drones at the Gulf state since Israel and the United States began striking Iranian targets in late February.
The scale of the attacks has forced Abu Dhabi to reassess its security posture, its alliances and its place in the Gulf order.
Analysts have described the moment as a watershed for the UAE, pushing it closer to the United States and Israel while exposing widening rifts with other Arab states.
“The longer this is going on, the more time they’ve had to reflect about their place in the world, their place in the Gulf – who’s a friend and who’s not,” Barbara Leaf, a former US ambassador to the UAE, told the New York Times.
“They are looking at things in pretty stark, black and white terms, of friend or foe.”
The UAE has complained privately and publicly that regional organisations, including the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council, have not shown enough solidarity. Abu Dhabi has also viewed some regional responses to Tehran as too cautious.
Israel ties deepen
The war has further strengthened the UAE’s relationship with Israel, even as anger over Israel’s campaign in Gaza continues to shape Arab public opinion.
The UAE normalised relations with Israel in 2020 under the Abraham Accords. That relationship has expanded during the Iran conflict, with reports that Israel provided Iron Dome air defence batteries to help the Emirates counter Iranian missile and drone attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has also said he made a secret wartime visit to the UAE and held talks that produced a “significant breakthrough”. Abu Dhabi denied that any such visit took place.
Iran has accused the UAE of becoming an active partner in the attacks against it. Abu Dhabi has rejected that charge and accused Tehran of trying to justify attacks on Emirati territory.
Dr Burcu Ozcelik, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, said the conflict had “accelerated a US-Israel-UAE alignment”.
Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, has also argued that Iran’s attacks are likely to “concretise” the US role in the Gulf, “not reduce it”. He said Israeli influence would “become more prominent in the Gulf, not less”.
Regional risks
The deeper alignment carries risks for all sides. For the UAE, closer military cooperation with Israel could fuel criticism from Arab states and publics who already view Abu Dhabi’s foreign policy with suspicion because of its regional interventions.
The UAE has faced repeated accusations of backing the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, allegations it denies. Israel, in turn, risks a closer association with an Emirati foreign policy that has drawn criticism from parts of Africa and the Middle East.
The war has also strained Gulf unity. Instead of bringing Saudi Arabia and the UAE closer together, the conflict appears to have deepened their divide. The UAE’s decision to quit OPEC earlier this month further weakened a Saudi-led framework that had long shaped Gulf oil policy.
For Washington, encouraging Emirati action against Iran could reduce the need for US ground involvement. But it could also widen the war and turn the Gulf into the centre of a direct territorial fight.
For Abu Dhabi, the choice is even more consequential. The UAE wants stronger protection from Iran and deeper ties with the United States and Israel. But seizing an Iranian island would move the Emirates from a defensive posture to open confrontation, with consequences that could reshape the region far beyond the current war.
