America’s dissatisfaction with UAE policies; Analysis of the gaps between Washington and Abu Dhabi

Tasnim News Agency, Hoda Yousefi, an expert on West Asian issues- After the establishment of the United Arab Emirates, America was the first country to recognize it; The close relations between the two countries continued for decades, and in recent years, the UAE was present in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and in the actions carried out by the United States under the name of fighting Al-Qaeda and ISIS, alongside the American military forces.

The relations between the two countries also expanded in the economic dimension and the bilateral trade between Abu Dhabi and Washington reached 20 billion dollars a year. Therefore, it is not far from logic if we consider the UAE as a regional partner of America in West Asia.

However, in the past few years, especially after the presidency of Joe Biden. In America, differences of opinion have arisen between Washington and its long-time ally in the Persian Gulf; Differences that, although they cannot be called tension, can be considered as the beginning of the gap in the relations between the two countries; With the continuation of this process, is it possible that America will lose one of its strategic partners in the Persian Gulf to other world powers?

What are the differences about?

The starting point of emerging challenges in US-UAE relations can be searched during Obama’s presidency; The convergence of several factors caused the UAE to feel threatened by the reduction of America’s presence in the region and, as a result, the reduction of Washington’s commitments to its regional partners in West Asia. At that time, American foreign policy began a process based on which Washington’s focus shifted from the Middle East to the East and the Asia Pacific region. On the other hand, at the same time, Washington initiated nuclear negotiations with Iran without prior coordination with the countries of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council.

Another important event, which The self-sufficiency of the United States in the production and extraction of crude oil had begun years ago, which made this country unnecessary to import foreign oil. The combination of these factors made the leaders of the United Arab Emirates believe that America is looking to reduce its presence in the region and cannot be satisfied with its security commitments.

The UAE’s relationship with China is considered a very big challenge for the strategic alliance between Abu Dhabi and Washington, especially the increasing cooperation between the intelligence agencies of the two countries. At the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, he signed a letter of acceptance for the sale of 50 F35s and 18 MQ-9 Reaper drones to the UAE, but after Joe Biden took office, he postponed the deal due to close ties between China and the UAE. And it has not been implemented until today. During his first year in office, Biden also warned the UAE that bilateral relations between them would suffer if China continued to build military facilities in Port Khalifa. A threat that, of course, did not work and Beijing-Abu Dhabi military cooperation continued.

Besides China, Russia is another strategic rival of America in recent years. has had close cooperation with the UAE; After the Ukraine crisis, the UAE not only did not support the resolution proposed by the UN Security Council to condemn Russia’s actions, but also voted against convening an emergency meeting of the Security Council. Positions that are against the interests of the United States and in some cases caused the UAE to cooperate in evading the sanctions imposed against Russia.

Also, some American media Presenting statistics have claimed that the export of microchips used in military weapons from the UAE to Russia has increased up to 15 times after the Ukraine crisis. Another part of the accusations against the United Arab Emirates refers to the country’s cooperation with Wagner’s Russian militias; The United States believes that the UAE is fighting in Libya with the aim of supplying arms to Khalifa Haftar and in Sudan alongside the Wagner militia.

The UAE’s regional approach is also It is not so much to the liking of the White House officials; Some researchers believe that the UAE’s actions in Libya, Sudan, Yemen, and Tunisia are carried out without coordination with Washington, and as a result, a wave of refugees has made its way to European countries and created a humanitarian crisis in the region and the world. The UAE’s arbitrary actions (according to the US) went so far that the FATF group included the country in its gray list on the pretext that the UAE does not take sufficient measures to prevent money laundering. (Countries that do not take sufficient measures in the fight against terrorism.)

Conclusion

end of message/