A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in West Bengal, the Indian leader took the unusual step of condemning the ballistic missile, drone and cruise missile attack on the Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates by Iran from across the Persian Gulf. The Prime Minister not only stood in solidarity with the UAE, but also called for freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Since the start of the Iran-US war, the UAE has clashed with 549 ballistic missiles, 29 cruise missiles, and 2,260 drone attacks from Iran on its territory due to US air bases in the emirate and its relations with Israel.
The attack on the port of Fujairah by Iran was calculated because this port, with the exception of the port of Khor Fakkan, is located outside the Strait of Hormuz and in the Gulf of Oman. With the UAE’s exit from Saudi-dominated OPEC, the two ports will be able to meet global energy demand held by Iran using the Strait of Hormuz as a choke point. The United Arab Emirates is one of the countries in West Asia that has been exposed to more Iranian missiles than Israel, as Tehran cannot come to terms with its growing relations with Israel, in addition to the emirate being a symbol of economic development in the Middle East.
While Saudi Arabia and Qatar have signed a defense pact with Pakistan through the Mutual Defense Agreement, Prime Minister Modi and his close personal friend Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, President of the United Arab Emirates, want to establish a strategic defense partnership after the two countries signed a letter of intent when Mohammed bin Zayed came to India for three hours on January 19 with his entire cabinet. The two sides plan to establish a strategic defense partnership agreement within six months after signing the letter of intent and expand cooperation in areas such as defense industrial cooperation, defense innovation, special operations, interoperability, cyberspace and counter-terrorism. Recently, the UAE decided not to renew Pakistani debt worth US$3.45 billion, forcing Islamabad to borrow from Riyadh to repay Abu Dhabi.
With Prime Minister Modi arriving in Abu Dhabi on May 18 on his way to the Netherlands, all eyes are on the two countries as they work to strengthen their bilateral relationship with Mundra, Fujairah and Aqaba, which is expected to be the new trade hub. Last month, the United Arab Emirates signed a formal agreement worth US$2.3 billion to build a 360-kilometre railway line to connect Jordanian rock, phosphate and potash mines to the Red Sea port of Aqaba. Both rock phosphate and potash are used in the manufacture of fertilizers, which are in high demand in India.
Apart from being a close ally of India, it is also one of the top five energy suppliers to New Delhi. In 2024-25, India imported US$13.6 billion worth of crude oil (nearly 10 percent of the country’s total crude oil imports of around 23 million tonnes), and LNG and LPG worth US$7.51 billion from the UAE.
With both the US and Iran struggling over the Strait of Hormuz for dominance and influence over global energy, India is expected to deepen its relations with the UAE so that both countries benefit from each other as New Delhi needs energy security and Abu Dhabi needs food security with both countries fighting extremism and terrorism.
