UAE links Iran strikes to health risks

Attacks tied to the widening confrontation with Iran could spill far beyond the battlefield and damage global health, food security and the environment, the UAE told an international summit in Lyon, urging governments and institutions to rally around a “One Health” strategy that treats human, animal and ecosystem health as inseparable. The intervention came at a high-level gathering hosted by France on 7 April, where the UAE said shocks to essential systems were no longer a regional issue alone.

Speaking on behalf of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh represented the UAE at the One Health Summit, held in Lyon from 5 to 7 April under the French G7 presidency framework and alongside World Health Day events. The summit brought together heads of state, ministers and international organisations to push a coordinated response to threats that cross traditional policy boundaries, from disease and water stress to food disruption and climate-linked harm.

The UAE’s warning reflects a sharper Gulf concern that the fallout from Iranian military activity and the broader war environment could reverberate through trade routes, water systems and medical supply chains. Reuters has reported that the conflict has already rattled global business, lifted energy costs and squeezed the movement of critical materials, while separate reporting has highlighted how any prolonged disruption around the Strait of Hormuz can quickly affect food production, shipping costs and access to medicines. That gives the UAE’s message a wider economic and humanitarian frame, rather than limiting it to conventional security language.

One of the clearest risks for Gulf states lies in water. Reuters reported this week that Iranian military threats had extended to desalination plants and other infrastructure in Gulf countries, underlining the vulnerability of a region where tens of millions depend on desalinated water for daily life. Any attack or serious disruption to that network would create an immediate public health threat, especially in densely populated urban centres, and could also hit food processing, hospitals and sanitation services at the same time. For policymakers in Abu Dhabi and other Gulf capitals, that is precisely the sort of interconnected crisis the One Health framework is meant to address.

Food systems are another pressure point. Analysts have warned that instability linked to the Iran war and shipping disruption in Hormuz can raise fertiliser costs, increase transport expenses and push up prices for staple and perishable goods across import-dependent economies. The effects are not confined to the Gulf. Research and policy analysis have pointed to knock-on stress for global agricultural output if energy and input markets remain volatile, while Britain and other importers have already been warned about the impact on food and medicine supply chains from disruption in the waterway.

Environmental damage also sits at the centre of the UAE case. The One Health model, promoted by the World Health Organization and partner agencies, is built on the premise that environmental degradation, animal health and human health interact constantly and must be managed together. WHO used the Lyon summit to push for science-based coordination on those fronts, while France framed the meeting as part of a broader effort to reform global health governance and prepare for crises that do not respect borders. By placing Iranian attacks within that context, the UAE is seeking to internationalise the consequences of the conflict and argue that environmental harm and system disruption deserve the same diplomatic urgency as direct military escalation.

That argument also carries a political message. Abu Dhabi has tried to balance deterrence, diplomacy and economic resilience through months of regional turbulence. Public comments from senior UAE officials in the past week have stressed that any settlement with Tehran must ensure secure passage through Hormuz and prevent the waterway from being used as leverage. The emphasis in Lyon broadened that position by shifting attention from oil alone to public health, food resilience and ecological protection, areas that tend to draw wider international backing and fit more easily into multilateral forums.