🇸🇦🇶🇦❌🇦🇪 The UAE tried to persuade Saudi Arabia and Qatar to join the US-Israeli war with Iran but the Saudis and Qataris refused

UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed held a series of calls with fellow leaders, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, shortly after the US and Israel began bombing Iran on Feb. 28, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private conversations.

While MBZ quickly opted to work with US President Donald Trump’s administration and the Israelis, his Gulf Arab counterparts told him this wasn’t their war, according to one person familiar with Abu Dhabi’s thinking. An already fractious relationship between the UAE and Saudi Arabia worsened as a result.

During the calls, the UAE President reminded his counterparts that the Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-country body, was founded in 1981 specifically because of threats posed to them by Iran’s Islamic revolution two years previously, the person said.

Saudi Arabia’s approach was to emphasize deterrence and defense, separate from Israeli-American attacks on Iran, and viewed the UAE’s position as escalatory, according to a Gulf official with knowledge of the government’s deliberations in Riyadh.

The UAE carried out limited attacks against Iran without Gulf support starting in early March and again in April, people familiar with the matter have said.

The previously unreported details help explain the UAE’s anger with fellow Arab states, culminating in its momentous decision in late April to leave the OPEC cartel, as well as its closer relations with Israel.

Abu Dhabi shocked the oil world by announcing it would leave OPEC, the cartel led by Saudi Arabia, and is reviewing its membership of regional bodies including the GCC. Beyond the frictions caused by the Iran war, the UAE and the kingdom are economic rivals and have been at odds over conflicts in Yemen and Sudan.

🔗 https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/uae-tried-vain-saudis-partner-130245528.html

Russian Defence Ministry:

‼️🇷🇺💥🇺🇦🏴‍☠️ Last night, in response to Ukraine's terrorist attacks on civilian facilities on the territory of Russia, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a massive strike by ground-based, naval-based high-precision weapons and attack drones against enterprises of the Ukrainian defence industry, fuel-power facilities, as well as transport and port infrastructure facilities used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and military airfields.

✅ The goal of the strike has been achieved. All the assigned targets have been engaged.