UAE fast-tracks alternative energy and trade corridors

The United Arab Emirates is accelerating alternative routes for energy exports and trade to reduce its exposure to disruption from the war with Iran, presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said on Monday.

“Our energy exports will not be held hostage, nor will our trade and economic activity,” Gargash told the Hili Forum in Abu Dhabi, saying the government was expanding port capacity on the country’s eastern coast while strengthening pipelines, railways and alternative cargo corridors.

Gargash said much of the infrastructure planning was already under way before the conflict but that the fighting had increased the urgency of delivery. Maritime security, trade and energy security had moved to the forefront of the UAE’s priorities, he said.

The comments followed months of disruption across the Gulf after Iran launched missile and drone attacks against the UAE and other states and targeted commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz. Gargash said Iran had fired about 3,300 missiles and drones at the UAE over several weeks, with most intercepted by the country’s air defences. He said many attacks were directed at civilian infrastructure.

The Strait of Hormuz has become a central point of confrontation in the conflict. Gargash said no single state should control the waterway, describing it as an international route of global importance and rejecting the use of shipping access as an instrument of coercion.

“Freedom of navigation is not a concession to be granted, nor a principle to be renegotiated under pressure,” he said. He also said attacks on merchant vessels should carry consequences and called for credible guarantees against further strikes on Gulf states.

Iran has announced plans for a new restricted zone near the strait as tensions with the United States have intensified. Shipping through the waterway has fallen sharply during periods of confrontation, increasing pressure on energy markets and raising insurance and freight costs.

The UAE’s eastern coastline offers direct access to the Gulf of Oman, outside the Strait of Hormuz. Gargash said expanding port capacity there and improving connections through pipelines and rail infrastructure would give the country greater flexibility in moving oil, goods and other cargo if Gulf shipping lanes were disrupted.

He said the crisis had also exposed shortcomings in the collective Gulf response. While individual states had demonstrated resilience, the region had not translated its shared assessment of the Iranian challenge into a sufficiently united strategic approach.

“For many years we broadly agreed on the nature of the challenge posed by Iran,” Gargash said. “Where we fell short in confronting this historic challenge was translating this shared understanding into a sufficiently united and strategic response.”

Gargash said strategic autonomy did not mean distancing the UAE from its established security partnerships, particularly with the United States. Rather, the conflict had underlined the need for stronger national capabilities so that the country could protect its population, economy and trade when outside priorities differed.

Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari made a similar argument at the forum, saying Gulf states should not rely solely on international forces or their strategic partnership with Washington for security and needed greater self-sufficiency.

Despite the attacks, Gargash said the UAE economy had continued to expand. He said non-oil foreign trade grew by 13 per cent in the first half of the year, although some sectors had been affected by the conflict.

The Hili Forum, running on September 7 and 8, is jointly organised by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research and the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy. Its 2026 programme is focused on conflict, regional consequences and strategic adjustment in the Gulf. Gargash said the six-month crisis had produced a more uncertain environment and reinforced the case for resilience in infrastructure, defence and economic policy.

He also left open the possibility of restoring working relations with Tehran, while drawing a distinction between diplomatic engagement and trust. Geography, he said, meant engagement with Iran remained unavoidable.