The United Arab Emirates and other Arab countries are restricting the US's use of military facilities in their territory to launch airstrikes against the Iranian axis, people familiar with the issue told Politico on Wednesday.
The restrictions come as Arab countries attempt to balance the desire to help the US deter Iran and its proxies, while also assuaging their citizens' anger toward Israel.
Arab countries "attempting a detente with Iran" are "increasingly restricting" the US and other allies from conducting retaliatory strikes from their soil against targets in Iraq, Syria, and the Red Sea, a US official told Politico. The official did not state exactly how many countries are implementing these restrictions.
A Western official told Politico that the UAE specifically is implementing the restrictions because "they don’t want to appear like they’re against Iran and they don’t want to appear too close to the West and Israel for public opinion reasons."
The US has several bases in the Gulf and the region where it operates from, including the Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE.
Iranian proxies threaten US bases in region
Several Iranian proxies have threatened to attack Arab states that the US uses to launch strikes from.
In October, just a few weeks after the Israel-Hamas war began, Alwiyat al-Waad al-Haq, an Iran-backed militia believed to be linked to the Iraqi Kataib Hezbollah militia, threatened to target bases where American forces are housed in Kuwait and the UAE.
The militia has claimed attacks against Gulf states in the past, including a drone attack in which three drones were intercepted by the UAE in February 2022, although most drone and missile attacks toward Saudi Arabia and the UAE in recent years have been claimed by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen, which has also launched a series of attacks against international shipping in the area since the war between Israel and Hamas began.